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
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Tokyo — In scenes normally reserved for J-pop stars, thousands of fans huddle against the cold outside a small train station on the outskirts of Tokyo, their phones held high for a glimpse of Japan’s latest obsession.—
Hanako Montgomery,
CNN Money,
6 Feb. 2026
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An obsession with the windy heath and wild heather moorlands of Yorkshire, where it was filmed.—
Andrea Bussell,
Condé Nast Traveler,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Mikomi sees images generated by Grok of her wearing specific fetish outfits, or her body contorted or placed in strange contexts.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
7 Jan. 2026
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In addition, the creation of the fetishes, with their bits of bone, dirt, plants, and other objects, also unnerved enslavers and colonists.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Investigators later concluded he was not aligned with any particular extremist ideology, but had developed an online fixation on previous school shooters.—
Bradford Betz,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
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The roots of this fixation go back decades, as Japan slowly shifted from an economic juggernaut to a cultural superpower exporting everything from Tamagotchi toys to Pokémon to Naruto.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Idée fixe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/id%C3%A9e%20fixe. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
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