think
To ponder, to go over in one's mind.
Noun
- An act of thinking; consideration (of something).
- I'll have a think about that and let you know.
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *þankijan Old English þenċan Middle English thinken English think From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from Old English þenċan, from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel, know”). Cognate with Scots think, thynk (“to think”), North Frisian teenk, taanke, tanke, tånke (“to think”), Saterland Frisian toanke (“to think”), West Frisian tinke (“to think”), Dutch denken, dinken (“to think”), Afrikaans dink (“to think”), Low German denken, dinken (“to think”), German denken (“to think”), Danish tænke (“to think”), Swedish tänka (“to think”), Norwegian Bokmål tenke (“to think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tenkja (“to think”), Icelandic þekkja (“to know, recognise, identify, perceive”), Gothic þagkjan (“to think”), Latin tongeō (“know”).
Forms
Derived
badthink correctthink doublethink goodthink groupthink have another think coming herdthink rethink rightthink triplethink wrongthink
Verb Entry 2
- To ponder, to go over in one's mind.
- Idly, the detective thought what his next move should be.
- Had we but world enough and time / This coyness, lady, were no crime. / We would sit down, and think which way / To walk, and pass our long love's day. - c. 1650, Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress
- To have (some statement) in one's mind; to say to oneself mentally.
- "I should phone my mother," I thought.
- So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,[…]a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little...
- To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
- I thought for three hours about the problem and still couldn’t find the solution.
- Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.” - 1913,...
- To conceive of something or someone [with of; or (rare) with on]
- I tend to think of her as rather ugly.
- Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright...
- To be of opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
- I don't think it worth complaining about the leak in the roof, is it?
- I hope you won’t think me stupid if I ask you what that means.
- She thought it pointless starting before four o'clock.
- To guess; to reckon; to believe while admittedly being uncertain.
- We should/would have thought she could've washed her hands before, at least.
- To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
- The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he[…] - 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please...
- “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her...
- In 1985 I sat down and wrote a four-page outline from which I thought to base such a work. - 1998, Dovid Rossoff, Where Heaven Touches Earth, page iii:
- To presume; to venture.
- Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:9:
- Ellipsis of think so.
- These plants are dead. Uh, you think?
Forms
thinks thinking thought no-table-tags glossary think thinkest thoughtest thinketh - thunk thinck thinke
Synonyms
Hyponyms
consider cogitate deem deliberate dream mull muse ponder ruminate reflect sleep on wonder
Related
Derived
afterthink bethink close one's eyes and think of England come to think of it don't even think about it do you think you can walk forethink give someone something to think about great minds think alike group-think have another think hear oneself think I don't think I don't think so ill-thought-out interthink I think not I think so I think therefore I am I thought you'd never ask lie back and think of England makes you think misthink outthink
Verb Entry 3
- To seem, to appear.
- And whanne syr launcelot sawe he myghte not ryde vp in to the montayne he there alyghte vnder an Appel tree […] And then he leid hym doune to slepe And thenne hym thoughte there came an old man afore hym the whiche sayd...
Origin
From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken (also thinchen, thünchen), from Old English þyncan (“to seem, appear”), from Proto-Germanic *þunkijaną (“to seem”). Cognate with Dutch dunken (“to seem, appear”), German dünken (“to seem, appear”), Danish tykkes (“to seem”), Swedish tycka (“to seem, think, regard”), Icelandic þykja (“to be regarded, be considered, seem”). More at methinks.
Forms
Synonyms
Hyponyms
consider cogitate deem deliberate dream mull muse ponder ruminate reflect sleep on wonder