thought

n.

1. Mental activity

   speculation, reflection, deliberation, cerebration, ideation, meditation, rumination, perceiving, apprehending, seeing, consideration, reasoning, intuition, imagination, logical process, perception, insight, understanding, viewpoint, concept, brainwork, thinking, knowing, realizing, discerning, rationalizing, drawing conclusions, concluding, inferring, deducing, deriving, deduction, inducing, logic, judging, rationalization, ratiocination, judgment, argumentation, cogitation, contemplation, cognition, intellection, slant*, brainstorm*, twist*, wrinkle*; see also acumen.

2. The result of mental activity

   idea, plan, view, fancy, notion, impression, image, understanding, appreciation, conception, observation, belief, feeling, opinion, guess, inference, theory, hypothesis, supposition, assumption, intuition, conjecture, deduction, postulate, premise, knowledge, evaluation, assessment, appraisal, estimate, verdict, finding, decision, determination, reflection, consideration, abstraction, conviction, tenet, presumption, intellectualization, ideation, surmise, doctrine, principle, drift, calculation, caprice, reverie, sentiment, care, worry, anxiety, uneasiness, dream.

3. The ideas of a given time, place, people, etc.

   philosophy, way of life, outlook, views, principles, worldview, Weltanschauung (German), Zeitgeist (German), spirit, custom, mores.

4. Care or attention

   heed, thoughtfulness, solicitude; see attention 1, 2, care 2. See syn. study at idea.