IDEE FIXE: an idea that dominates one's mind especially for a prolonged period: obsession
According to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the term idee fixe was coined by French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830, who used it to describe the principal theme of his magnum opus, the Symphonie fantastique. That reference goes on to say that at about the same time the French novelist Honore de Balzac used idee fixe in Gobseck to describe an obsessive idea. By 1836, Balzac's more generalized use of the term had carried over into English, where "idee fixe" was embraced as a clinical and literary term for a persistent preoccupation or delusional idea that dominates a person's mind. Although it is still used in both sychology and music, nowadays "idee fixe" is also applied to milder and more pedestrain obsessions.
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