as in obsession
something about which one is constantly thinking or concerned
had this bizarre idée fixe that people were spying on her with electromagnetic waves
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Recent Examples of idée fixe
This is perhaps why their partnership remains an idee fixe so many decades later.
—
Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2021
Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idée fixe
Noun
-
Now, the Swedish flatpack giant believes its long-elusive obsession is, at long last, blowing up.—
Jack Bantock,
CNN Money,
14 May 2026
-
This story made the most sense to me, and for the next forty years his death became the rationale and justification for my Vietnam War obsession.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
Various nemeses and side characters enter the fray, from Jim’s archenemy (and also Insta-famous) Pavel to the scally with a sneaker-sniffing fetish who guides Jim and Lucien to their next destination.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
17 May 2026
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Here, the sado-sensual yearning of the Confederacy to instantiate itself through the fetishes and reliquaries of figurative sculpture is shown as hollow, impotent, all too discomfiting, and very real.—
Horace D. Ballard,
Artforum,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The fixation is really bizarre.—
Seth Abramovitch,
HollywoodReporter,
12 May 2026
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The series follows the composer’s arrival in late-18th-century Vienna and Salieri’s decade-long fixation on him, as admiration curdles into obsession.—
Lisa Wong Macabasco,
Vogue,
11 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Idée fixe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/id%C3%A9e%20fixe. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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