thought

¹

[ thawt ]

noun

1. the product of mental activity; that which one thinks:

   a body of thought.

2. a single act or product of thinking; idea or notion:

   to collect one's thoughts.

3. the act or process of thinking; mental activity:

   Thought as well as action wearies us.

   Synonyms: cogitation, reflection, deliberation, rumination, meditation

4. the capacity or faculty of thinking, reasoning, imagining, etc.:

   All her thought went into her work.

5. a consideration or reflection:

   Thought of death terrified her.

6. meditation, contemplation, or recollection:

   deep in thought.

7. intention, design, or purpose, especially a half-formed or imperfect intention:

   We had some thought of going.

8. anticipation or expectation:

   I had no thought of seeing you here.

9. consideration, attention, care, or regard:

   She took no thought of her appearance.

10. a judgment, opinion, or belief:

    According to his thought, all violence is evil.

11. the intellectual activity or the ideas, opinions, etc., characteristic of a particular place, class, or time:

    Greek thought.

12. a very small amount; a touch; bit; trifle:

    The steak is a thought underdone.

thought

²

[ thawt ]

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of think ¹.

thought

/ θɔːt /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of think

noun

1. the act or process of thinking; deliberation, meditation, or reflection
2. a concept, opinion, or idea
3. philosophical or intellectual ideas typical of a particular time or place

   German thought in the 19th century

4. application of mental attention; consideration

   he gave the matter some thought

5. purpose or intention

   I have no thought of giving up

6. expectation

   no thought of reward

7. a small amount; trifle

   you could be a thought more enthusiastic

8. kindness or regard

   he has no thought for his widowed mother

Word History and Origins

Origin of thought¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English thoght, Old English (ge)thōht; cognate with Dutch gedachte; akin to thank, think ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of thought¹

Old English thōht; related to Old Frisian thochta, Old Saxon, Old High German githācht

Idioms and Phrases

see food for thought ; lost in thought ; on second thought ; penny for your thoughts ; perish the thought ; train of thought . Also see under think .

Example Sentences

So now imagine you could do that same thought experiment, but not just doing it at random, doing it at a large scale while having some metric of screening for those who actually had both the greatest competence as well as the greatest commitment and knowledge of the Constitution.

From Slate

In September, speaking on The Lex Fridman Podcast, Ramaswamy posited what he called a “glib” thought experiment:

From Slate

But Streeting’s view became public after he told a large, notionally private, meeting of Labour MPs what he thought.

From BBC

Although Marie Antoinette was found to be blameless, her reputation is thought to have been tarnished by the affair and she was unpopular among the French people, who accused her of being wasteful and a dangerous influence on the king.

From BBC

Mr Findlay said to Mrs Macdonald that her husband thought his back condition had been made worse by the osteopath.

From BBC

Related Words

• anxiety
• assessment
• belief
• concern
• conclusion
• dream
• expectation
• feeling
• hope
• image
• intention
• judgment
• knowledge
• notion
• opinion
• plan
• prospect
• theory
• thinking
• understanding