The phrase "modest ideas" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe ideas that are humble, simple, or not overly ambitious.
Example: "The conference focused on modest ideas that could lead to sustainable change in the community."
Alternatives: "humble concepts" or "simple notions."
More modest ideas were shouted down during the debate over health reform.
But Pope Francis has more modest ideas about what to put on his feet.
On a modest ideas wall above the desk at which he draws are pictures and slogans including a note: "Make a croque monsieur machine".
Distributing oil money to citizens is a big step, and oil countries and companies have rejected much more modest ideas that might put limits on their abilities to manipulate oil revenues.
I'd take it as a good sign if some of the rather modest ideas listed in Nocera's column catch fire, and we finally start to get rid of some of the unnecessary stupidities that bedevil American democracy.
But two more modest ideas look promising.The McKay Commission, a panel of wise folk asked to solve the West Lothian question, last year suggested that bills could pass through committees of English MPs reflecting the English party balance for amendment, before returning to the full House of Commons for a final vote.
So here is a modest idea.
Whatever else it is, natural selection is not a "modest" idea, nor is descent with modification.
That modest idea hardly seems likely to cause a dangerous outbreak of anti-business sentiment.
Opponents of Obamacare seized on this modest idea — asking patients what they want really shouldn't be so controversial — as the embodiment of evil.
Their modest idea has evolved into the ambitious Children's Museum of the East End (CMEE for short, pronounced SEE-mee).
