The phrase "a true idea of" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing someone's understanding or perception of a concept or situation.
Example: "To fully grasp the topic, one must have a true idea of its historical context."
Alternatives: "an accurate understanding of" or "a genuine perception of".
Only the "new nation," as Aristides called the Christians, has a true idea of God, who creates all things through his Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thanks to the map, the artist wrote, "we have a true idea of our position, and not as the rest of the world wishes".
We have seen the Christmas rally that you often get, so will not get a true idea of the market until the second week of January.
That's when I first got a true idea of my place in the Ping-Pong pantheon — or, to be more accurate, my distance from the Ping-Pong pantheon, which is something like the distance from Earth to Alpha Centauri.
Part of the reason is because the advertising agencies are full of very young people, and their idea of 50 is not a true idea of what 50 is.
Dr Marian Knight of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit told the BBC: "This does give a true idea of the risk [of womb rupture] for the first time [in the UK] - in fact it's lower than what we've been estimating before.
("I must not think that, just as my conceptions of rest and darkness are arrived at by negating movement and light, so my perception of the infinite is arrived at not by means of a true idea but by merely negating the finite," Third Meditation, p. 94).
It is they, not the technocrats – who understand nothing but measurable outcomes – who are standing up for the true idea of a university.
His first true idea of how desperate the night had been came at dawn, when his doze was interrupted by shouting.
The Querist, published in three parts from 1735 to 1737, deals with basic economics credit, demand, industry, and "the true idea of money"—and with special problems, such as banking, currency, luxury, and the wool trade.
At a moment when Republicans are groping for an agenda beyond opposition, Mr. Bush has long been considered one of the party's true idea guys, someone a lot of party insiders think could still be a serious presidential contender.
