bright idea

Idioms  

1. A clever thought or plan. For example, John had a bright idea for saving space—we would each have a terminal but share the printer. This term uses bright in the sense of “intelligent” or “quick-witted” and may be employed either straightforwardly, as in the example above, or ironically, as in Jumping in the pool with your clothes on—that was some bright idea. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

A bright idea - the image getting across is that William is just an ordinary Joe.

From BBC

“In 1999 after Yahoo and America Online had already gone up like tenfold, I got the bright idea at Soros to short internet stocks.”

From The Wall Street Journal

In other words, developing that alternative must be a democratic process, not just one person’s bright idea.

From Salon

It turned out, however, that they were not the only ones with this bright idea.

From Slate

He came up with the bright idea of claiming that the actor was of Siberian Jewish heritage when learning the truth of his identity.

From Los Angeles Times