basic idea

The basic idea of inflation is simple and elegant; turning it into a workable theory is more complicated.

The basic idea behind austerity is that deflation via government cuts will rein in budget deficits and sovereign debt.

I'll take this as a pushback against Bloomberg's mechanism - a half-limitation on portion sizes - as compared to the basic idea.

That basic idea also perfectly illuminates the core contradiction of the Republican Party.

It's hard to be really precise because Romney's plan is (natch) too vague, but the basic idea is this.

The basic idea of the trade agreement is that of collective bargaining rather than arbitration.

The basic idea of this method is that the singer must imagine his face to be covered by a mask, and must "sing into this mask."

When once you admit the basic idea of Time-traveling to be plausible, what fascinating vistas are opened to the imagination!

For about thirty minutes Scriven lectured with lucidity upon the basic idea, the history, the functions of The Brain.

All of these have for their basic idea, in etymology at least, an increase of secretion.