Idea vs. Ideal

Ideanoun

(philosophy) An abstract archetype of a given thing, compared to which real-life examples are seen as imperfect approximations; pure essence, as opposed to actual examples.

Ideanoun

(obsolete) The conception of someone or something as representing a perfect example; an ideal.

Ideanoun

(obsolete) The form or shape of something; a quintessential aspect or characteristic.

Ideanoun

An image of an object that is formed in the mind or recalled by the memory.

Ideanoun

More generally, any result of mental activity; a thought, a notion; a way of thinking.

Ideanoun

A conception in the mind of something to be done; a plan for doing something, an intention.

Ideanoun

A purposeful aim or goal; intent

Ideanoun

A vague or fanciful notion; a feeling or hunch; an impression.

Ideanoun

(music) A musical theme or melodic subject.

Ideanoun

The transcript, image, or picture of a visible object, that is formed by the mind; also, a similar image of any object whatever, whether sensible or spiritual.

Ideanoun

A general notion, or a conception formed by generalization.

Ideanoun

Hence: Any object apprehended, conceived, or thought of, by the mind; a notion, conception, or thought; the real object that is conceived or thought of.

Ideanoun

A belief, option, or doctrine; a characteristic or controlling principle; as, an essential idea; the idea of development.

Ideanoun

A plan or purpose of action; intention; design.

Ideanoun

A rational conception; the complete conception of an object when thought of in all its essential elements or constituents; the necessary metaphysical or constituent attributes and relations, when conceived in the abstract.

Ideanoun

A fiction object or picture created by the imagination; the same when proposed as a pattern to be copied, or a standard to be reached; one of the archetypes or patterns of created things, conceived by the Platonists to have excited objectively from eternity in the mind of the Deity.

Ideanoun

the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about;

Ideanoun

a personal view;

Ideanoun

an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth;

Ideanoun

your intention; what you intend to do;

Ideanoun

(music) melodic subject of a musical composition;

Ideanoun

a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action

Ideanoun

a mental impression

Ideanoun

an opinion or belief

Ideanoun

the aim or purpose

Ideanoun

(in Platonic thought) an eternally existing pattern of which individual things in any class are imperfect copies.

Ideanoun

(in Kantian thought) a concept of pure reason, not empirically based in experience.

Idea

In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are abstract concepts. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object.

Idealadjective

Optimal; being the best possibility.

Idealadjective

Perfect, flawless, having no defects.

Idealadjective

Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea.

Idealadjective

Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.

Idealadjective

Teaching or relating to the doctrine of idealism.

Idealadjective

(mathematics) Not actually present, but considered as present when limits at infinity are included.

Idealnoun

A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.

Idealnoun

A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.

Idealnoun

A non-empty lower set (of a partially ordered set) which is closed under binary suprema (a.k.a. joins).

Idealnoun

(set theory) A collection of sets, considered small or negligible, such that every subset of each member and the union of any two members are also members of the collection.

Idealnoun

A Lie subalgebra (subspace that is closed under the Lie bracket) 𝖍 of a given Lie algebra 𝖌 such that the Lie bracket [𝖌,𝖍] is a subset of 𝖍.

Idealadjective

Existing in idea or thought; conceptional; intellectual; mental; as, ideal knowledge.

Idealadjective

Reaching an imaginary standard of excellence; fit for a model; faultless; as, ideal beauty.

Idealadjective

Existing in fancy or imagination only; visionary; unreal.

Idealadjective

Teaching the doctrine of idealism; as, the ideal theory or philosophy.

Idealadjective

Imaginary.

Idealnoun

A mental conception regarded as a standard of perfection; a model of excellence, beauty, etc.

Idealnoun

the idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain

Idealnoun

model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal

Idealadjective

conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; embodying an ideal

Idealadjective

constituting or existing only in the form of an idea or mental image or conception;

Idealadjective

of or relating to the philosophical doctrine of the reality of ideas

Idealadjective

satisfying one's conception of what is perfect; most suitable

Idealadjective

existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality

Idealadjective

representing an abstract or hypothetical optimum

Idealnoun

a person or thing regarded as perfect

Idealnoun

a standard or principle to be aimed at