Make Your Point > Archived Issues > IDÉE FIXE

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connect this word to others: Is anyone else creeped out by Animotion's song "Obsession"?    I will have you    Yes, I will have you    I will find a way and I will have you    Like a butterfly    A wild butterfly    I will collect you and capture you    You are an obsession    You're my obsession They should let it go, but they can't: it's their idée fixe, the thing they're obsessed with, the person they're preoccupied by, the target on which they've fi__ted (that is, on which they've focused all of their thoughts and attention). (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "IDÉE FIXE" Like you'd guess, this term is French for "fixed idea." Somebody's idée fixe is their obsession: the one thing they think about all the time. Pronunciation: EE day FEEKS (rhymes with "three-day weeks") Part of speech: Noun, the countable kind: "it's her idée fixe," "that had long been an idée fixe of his." Other forms: The plural is "idées fixes." Notice how you spell it with an "s" after each word, but--thanks, French, for making this weird--you pronounce it the same as the singular. How to use it:  Some writers italicize this term to show that it's foreign: "that's her idée fixe." But many writers don't, so I don't either. But we all still keep the little mark over the first "e." Keeping in mind how very fancy this term can sound, talk about someone's idée fixe, or about someone having an idée fixe, or about something becoming, morphing into, or remaining someone's idée fixe. Although it's often a single person who has an idée fixe, it can also be a group of people who have one. Here's Steven Johnson: "The celebration of sidewalk culture has become an idée fixe of all left-leaning urbanists." examples: "Ask any cruciverbalist where to start with puzzles and they will warn you it can quickly become obsessive. For The Saturday Paper’s resident cruciverbalist, Mungo MacCallum, the idée fixe started early with the crossword over breakfast at his family's kitchen table."    — Mungo MacCallum, The Saturday Paper "And there, between three and five feet off the ground, snagged in the bark, he spotted the tuft of hair and piece of skin he hoped would bring him one step closer to his idée fixe, the sasquatch itself, a towering hominid of North American lore."    — Reis Thebault, The Washington Post, 6 June 2019 has this page helped you understand "idée fixe"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "idée fixe" without saying "obsession" or "fixation." try it out: An idée fixe could be good or bad, helpful or harmful, or a mixed bag. I think it depends on how much it involves worrying versus doing. Like my mom always told me, worrying is a waste of time; it stops you from getting things done. Or as the Dalai Lama said, probably, "If you have a problem that can be fixed, there is no use in worrying. If you have a problem that cannot be fixed, there is no use in worrying." Keeping this in mind, talk about a specific person's idée fixe. It might be your own, or a close friend's, or a fictional character's. How much does this obsession hinge on worrying? Is this idée fixe ultimately good or bad, helpful or harmful, or a mix? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. This month, we're playing "What's the Word?" On Reddit, r/whatstheword is a community of about 55,000 members: folks who gather to help each other out when they can't think of a particular word. "It's on the tip of my tongue," they say. Or, "This word might not even exist. Help!" In each issue this month, check out a post from the community, and see if you can come up with the word or phrase in question. We'll work our way from relatively easy to extremely hard questions as the month goes on. From the previous issue: A community member asked, "What's the word for when you get really into doing something that is slightly challenging and then 6 hours go by but it only felt like 15 minutes?" Answer: Great suggestions included "immersion" and "engrossment," but the best answer was simply "flow," the psychological term for a deep engagement with what you're doing--in other words, being in the zone. Try this today: A community member asked, "What's the word for a physical anagram? 'Lasagna' and 'ravioli' use the same ingredients, arranged differently, to form two different foods. Is there a word for this? For example, ravioli is just a _____ of lasagna, so let's not order both." I'll share the answer in the upcoming issue, but if you can't wait, you can view the whole original thread here. review this word: 1. A near opposite of IDÉE FIXE is A. THE POWER OF THOUGHT. B. THE FURTHEST THOUGHT FROM ONE'S MIND. C. ONE'S FIRST THOUGHT ON WAKING AND ONE'S LAST THOUGHT BEFORE FALLING ASLEEP. 2. Writing for Encyclopedia Britannica, Virginia Gorlinski defines an idée fixe in music or literature as the _____ in a work. A. "general pace or cadence" B. "recurring theme or character trait" C. "scene or moment of final resolution" 1. B 2. B a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.