mindmap root((想法)) idea may apply to a mental image or formulation of something seen or known or imagined, to a pure abstraction, or to something assumed or vaguely sensed: a mind filled with innovative ~s. concept may apply to the idea formed after consideration of instances of a category or, more broadly, to any widely accepted idea of what a thing ought to be: a society with no ~ of private property. conception often interchangeable with concept, stresses the process of imagining or formulating and often applies to a peculiar or individual idea rather than to a widely held one: the writer's ~ of such a situation. thought is likely to suggest the result of reflecting, reasoning, or meditating rather than of imagining: commit your ~s on paper. notion suggests an idea not much resolved by analysis or reflection and may suggest the tentative, capricious, or accidental: the oddest ~s fly in and out of her head. impression applies to an idea or notion resulting immediately from external stimulation: the first ~ is of soaring height.