1. Any content of the mind; especially, the conscious mind: A thought about anything is an idea.
2. A mental representation of an entity: When a person tries to imagine anything, such an idea can mean a rough outline or a general sense of some matter.
3. The characterization of things in general terms or concepts: The drawing that Polly made doesn't show every detail of the project, but it should give the committee some idea as to how it can be accomplished.
4. An individual's decision about some problem at hand: Shareen's parents thought her idea of quitting school to get a job was not a good one.
5. A scheme, an intention, a plan, etc.: Mike had an idea that he could make more money if he lowered his store prices.
6. A vague notion or indication; and inkling: Andre had no idea whether he passed the test in biology or not.
7. Etymology: the term goes all the way back to Greek idein, "to see" and then from Latin idea, "idea".

A delusion that is characteristic of schizophrenia, which appears without external cause or explanation, within the person's mind: Since an autochthonous idea seems to be convincing for the subject, someone may frequently believe that it has been implanted in one's mind by a malevolent external agent.

The end result or goal toward which thoughts progress: One of the schizophrenic's disturbances of associations is an inability to keep to the determinative idea or to focus his or her attention on a central objective or purpose.

Strong thoughts which occupy the forefront of consciousness and to which other thoughts and actions are subordinated or considered to be less important: Dominant ideas can possibly be "abnormal" or they can simply be the primary ideas that are on a person's mind at a spedific time.

The quick skipping from one thought to another one even before the last one is finished: The flight of ideas have superficial relationships to one another and often are associated only by chance, as seen in the manic phases of manic depressive illnesses or in schizophrenias.

Delusions in which a person believes that anything that happens in the world has a specific meaning for her or him; or such a thing has been done only because of him or her: Even a thundering or drops of rain are considered ideas of references that are considered to be personal because someone feels these elements have a personal significance.

There are times when an idea of reference includes a delusion of persecution and the person misinterprets anything that happens in reality as a sign that there are imagined persecutors who are about to succeed in destroying or disgracing him or her.

James had an idea reference that convinced him that all remarks made by others were always about him, even when such comments had nothing to do with him.

Remarks by Godfrey Harris: How you get them and what to do with them, Part 1.

Remarks by Godfrey Harris: How you get them and what to do with them, Part 2.

Remarks by Godfrey Harris: How you get them and what to do with them, Part 3.

Remarks by Godfrey Harris: How you get them and what to do with them, Part 4.

Remarks by Godfrey Harris: How you get them and what to do with them, Part 5.

A clinical manifestation of certain psychotic disorders: A patient, for example Mike's neighbor Jane, has ideas of influences during which she experiences moments that she might believe that her thoughts are read by other people, that her limbs move without her consent, or that she is under the control of some external force.

Obsessive thoughts that repeatedly force themselves into people's thinking: Sara's obtrusive ideas often interfere with her actions, even when she realizes that such thinking is undesirable.

A dreamer's central thinking or conflict that has been exceptionally endowed with inner repressed psychic energy: An overcharged idea may appear in a dream, as in Jeff's dream, in the form of various symbols and several identifications.

Formulated thoughts or opinions that take place before actions: Josh's pre-ideas had to be reconsidered before they could be accomplished.