thinking Hear it!

thinking Definition

think·ing (t̸hiŋkiŋ)

adjective

  1. that thinks or can think; rational
  2. given to thought; reflective

noun

the action of one who thinks or the result of such action; thought

thinking Idioms

put on one's thinking cap

to begin careful thinking about a problem

thinking Synonyms

thinking

modif.

rational, reasoning, reasonable, pensive, introspective, reflective, meditative, speculative, studious, deliberating, contemplative, absorbed, engrossed, intent on, ruminating, cerebrating; see also thoughtful 1.

Antonyms stupid*, vacuous, irrational.

put on one's thinking cap

begin thinking, study, examine; see think 1.

thinking Synonyms

thinking

n.

thought, reasoning, reason, cogitation, ideation, rationalization, contemplation, rumination, reflection, speculation, cerebration, deliberation, study, meditation, abstraction, musing, self-absorption, introspection, retrospection, intellectual perception, noodling*, tall headwork*.

thinking Usage Examples

Converse of subject

  • solve: They can be solved by lateral thinking alone and have been making quite an impact around the world.

Converse of object

  • muddle: For an insight into the muddled constitutional thinking of the Government I've read few better articles.
  • stimulate: Our units of study are designed to stimulate critical thinking about the topic by both you and your students.
  • dominate: Before the war the concept of a balance of power in Europe had dominated the thinking of the great powers.
  • encourage: It is the ANC's desire to encourage original thinking in the areas of work covered by our membership.
  • foster: And various arguments in terms of education, social policy, and the way it fosters creative thinking.
  • explain: Before each policy is a " reasoned justification " which explains the thinking behind the policy.

Adjective modifier

  • wishful: Some of what he says is, even in its language, wishful thinking: " It is greatly to be hoped.. .
  • lateral: Some are obvious, others may require some lateral thinking on your part.
  • critical: Critical thinking: The examiners are particularly keen on critical thinking.
  • joined-up: Secondly to the Commission: will the Commission commit to engaging in joined-up thinking on the issues of alternatives to oil?
  • creative: What you'll have to do is some extra browsing to find the right deals, as well as a little creative thinking.
  • strategic: This group included: Strategic thinking at all levels.

Modifies a noun

  • skill: Coaching is about helping the client to develop their critical thinking skills.
  • hat: During a discussion, any participant can switch to any of the six thinking hats.
  • pattern: Table I. Teaching Strategies and Learning Systems Lectures Brief lectures present new information and model critical thinking patterns.

Noun used with modifier

  • Anyone: Anyone thinking of doing any permitted work needs to apply on an official form, usually within 42 days of starting the work.
  • enlightenment: And this new emphasis on creating and satisfying desires and appetites also had its roots in Enlightenment thinking.
  • anyone: Your course is an excellent starting point to anyone thinking of a career in plumbing.
  • anybody: Campus tours are open to anybody thinking of studying here.
thinking Quotes

Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me, and a three hours'march to dinneröand then to thinking! It is hard if I cannot start some game on these lone heaths.

—Hazlitt,William

   Man kann den Menschen nicht verwehren, Zu denken, was sie wollen. One cannot prevent people from thinking what they please.

—Schiller, Friedrich

Hunting is not a proper employment for a thinking man.

—Addison,Joseph

'The true'to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as 'the right' is only the expedient in the way of our behaving.

—James,William

Ever since I was engaged on Principia Mathematica, I have had a certainmethod of whichat first Iwasscarcely conscious, but which has gradually become more explicit in my thinking. The method consists in an attempt to build a bridge between the world of sense and the world of science.

—Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl

'Fan her head!'the Red Queen anxiously interrupted. 'She'll be feverish after so much thinking.'

—Dodgson

So have I loitered my life away, reading books, looking at pictures, going to plays, hearing, thinking, writing on what pleased me best. I have wanted only one thing to make me happy, but wanting that have wanted everything.

—Hazlitt,William

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

  Every manwho has lived his life tothe full, should, by the time his senior years are reached, have established a reserve inventory of unfinished thinking.

—Randall, Clarence Beldan

It's dogged as does it. It ain't thinking about it.

—Trollope, Anthony

Je pris garde que, pendant queje voulais ainsi penserque tout e¤  tait faux, il fallait ne¤  cessairement que moi, qui le pensais, fusse quelque chose. Deschamps I noticed that while I was trying to thinkeverything false, it must needs be that I, who was thinking this, was something.

—Descartes, Rene¤

My left hand is my thinking hand. The right is onlya motor hand.

—Hepworth, Dame Barbara

A wiseToryand a wise Whig, I believe, will agree. Their principles are the same, though their modes of thinking are different.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

We were to do more business after dinner, but after dinner is after dinneröan old saying and a true,'much drinking, little thinking'.

—Swift,Jonathan

Shouting isnot a substitute for thinking and reason isnot the subversion but the salvation of freedom.

—Stevenson, Adlai E(wing)

Apparently, the most difficult feat for a Cambridge male istoaccept a womannot merelyas feeling, not merelyas thinking, but as managing a complex, vital interweaving of both.

—Plath, Sylvia

Le talent provient de l'originalite¤  , qui est une manie'  re spe¤  ciale de penser, de voir, de comprendre et de juger. Talent comes from originality which is a special manner of thinking, of seeing, of understanding and of judging.

—Maupassant, Guy de

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.

—Einstein, Albert

   It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in our society today† This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.

—Asimov, Isaac

Thinking is the great enemy of perfection. The habit of profound reflection, I am compelled to say, is the most pernicious of all the habits formed by civilized man.

—Constantinus

Thinking precisely and systematically about something as complex and irregular as a modern economy is very difficult, maybe impossible.

—Solow, Robert M

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

—Szent-Gyo«  rgyi, Albert von Nagyrapolt

Poetryisnotanexpressionofthepartyline.It'sthattimeof night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.

—Ginsberg, Allen

Ihave oftenwished Ihad timeto cultivatemodesty† But I am too busy thinking about myself.

—Sitwell, Dame Edith Louisa

I amsuspicious of guilt in myself and inother people: it is usuallyawayof notthinking, orofannouncingone's own fine sensibilities the better to be rid of them.

—Hellman, Lillian Florence

Among all forms of mentation, verbal thinking is the most articulate, the most complex, and the most vulnerable to infectious diseases. It is liable to absorb whispered suggestions, and to incorporate them as hidden persuaders into the code.

—Koestler, Arthur

Browse dictionary entries near thinking

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