train of thought

Idioms  

1. A succession of connected ideas, a path of reasoning, as in You've interrupted my train of thought; now what was I saying? This idiom, which uses train in the sense of “an orderly sequence,” was first recorded in 1651, in philosopher Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan.

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Example Sentences

Clare said, his train of thought barreling faster down the tracks.

From Literature

But you can follow their train of thought.

From Literature

I swear I had another example, but I lost my train of thought.

From The Wall Street Journal

As I come back—I had a ruler!—Dad interrupts my train of thought.

From Literature

Some mornings there might be three or four messages; other times, Chloé might have got carried away and recorded 12 or 13 trains of thought.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• acumen
• analysis
• argument
• hypothesis
• inference
• interpretation
• premise
• proposition
• rationale
• thinking