What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Icon vs Ideal - What's the difference?

icon | ideal |

As nouns the difference between icon and ideal

is that icon is an , symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion while ideal is (a perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc.)A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.

As an adjective ideal is

optimal; being the best possibility.

As a proper noun Ideal is

a city in Georgia, USA.

icon

English

(wikipedia icon)

Alternative forms

* eikon, ikon

Noun

(en noun)
  • An image, symbol, picture, or other representation usually as an object of religious devotion.
  • A religious painting, often done on wooden panels.
  • A person or thing that is the best example of a certain profession or some doing.
    • That man is an icon in the business; he personifies loyalty and good business sense.
  • A small picture which represents something (such as an icon on a computer screen which when clicked performs some function.)
  • (linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form reflects and is determined by the referent; onomatopoeic words are necessarily all icons. See also (symbol) and (index).
  • Pictual representations of files, programs and folders on a computer.

    • Derived terms

    * aniconic, aniconism * iconism

    Related terms

    * iconic * iconoclasm, iconoclast, iconoclastic * iconify * iconography * iconstasis

    Anagrams

    * * * ----

    ideal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Optimal; being the best possibility.
  • Perfect, flawless, having no defects.
  • * Rambler
    • There will always be a wide interval between practical and ideal excellence.
  • Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea.
  • Existing only in the mind; conceptual, imaginary.
  • * 1796 , Matthew Lewis, The Monk , Folio Society 1985, p. 256:
    • The idea of ghosts is ridiculous in the extreme; and if you continue to be swayed by ideal terrors —
  • * 1818 , , [[s:Frankenstein/Chapter 4, Chapter 4],
    • Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
  • Teaching or relating to the doctrine of idealism.
    • the ideal theory or philosophy
  • (mathematics) Not actually present, but considered as present when limits at infinity are included.
    • ideal point
    An ideal triangle in the hyperbolic disk is one bounded by three geodesics that meet precisely on the circle.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Related terms

    * ideality * idealless * ideally * idealism * idealistic * idealize

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A perfect standard of beauty, intellect etc., or a standard of excellence to aim at.
    • Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny -
  • (mathematics, order theory) A non-empty]] lower set (of a partially ordered set) which is [[closure, closed under binary suprema (a.k.a. joins).[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_prime_ideal_theorem#Prime_ideal_theorems]
    • If (1) the empty set were called a "small" set, and (2) any subset of a "small" set were also a "small" set, and (3) the union of any pair of "small" sets were also a "small" set, then the set of all "small" sets would form an ideal .
  • (for example, algebra) A subring closed under multiplication by its containing ring.
    • Let \mathbb{Z} be the ring of integers and let 2\mathbb{Z} be its ideal of even integers. Then the quotient ring \mathbb{Z} / 2\mathbb{Z} is a Boolean ring.
    The product of two ideals \mathfrak{a} and \mathfrak{b} is an ideal \mathfrak{a b} which is a subset of the intersection of \mathfrak{a} and \mathfrak{b}. This should help to understand why maximal ideals' are prime ' ideals . Likewise, the union of \mathfrak{a} and \mathfrak{b} is a subset of \mathfrak{a + b}.

    Antonyms

    * (order theory) filter

    Derived terms

    * left ideal * right ideal * two-sided ideal * principal ideal

    External links

    * (wikipedia)

    Anagrams

    * ----