think Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an instance of deliberate thinking
    • I need to give it a good think
  2. verb judge or regard; look upon; judge
    conceive; believe; consider.
    • I think he is very smart
    • I believe her to be very smart
    • I think that he is her boyfriend
    • The racist conceives such people to be inferior
  3. verb expect, believe, or suppose
    guess; reckon; suppose; imagine; opine.
    • I imagine she earned a lot of money with her new novel
    • I thought to find her in a bad state
    • he didn't think to find her in the kitchen
    • I guess she is angry at me for standing her up
  4. verb use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments
    cogitate; cerebrate.
    • I've been thinking all day and getting nowhere
  5. verb recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection
    retrieve; remember; recall; recollect; call back; call up.
    • I can't remember saying any such thing
    • I can't think what her last name was
    • can you remember her phone number?
    • Do you remember that he once loved you?
    • call up memories
  6. verb imagine or visualize
    • Just think--you could be rich one day!
    • Think what a scene it must have been!
  7. verb focus one's attention on a certain state
    • Think big
    • think thin
  8. verb have in mind as a purpose
    intend; mean.
    • I mean no harm
    • I only meant to help you
    • She didn't think to harm me
    • We thought to return early that night
  9. verb decide by pondering, reasoning, or reflecting
    • Can you think what to do next?
  10. verb ponder; reflect on, or reason about
    • Think the matter through
    • Think how hard life in Russia must be these days
  11. verb dispose the mind in a certain way
    • Do you really think so?
  12. verb have or formulate in the mind
    • think good thoughts
  13. verb be capable of conscious thought
    • Man is the only creature that thinks
  14. verb bring into a given condition by mental preoccupation
    • She thought herself into a state of panic over the final exam

WordNet

Think transitive verb
Etymology
OE. thinken, properly, to seem, from AS. þyncean (cf. Methinks), but confounded with OE. thenken to think, fr. AS. þencean (imp. þohte); akin to D. denken, dunken, OS. thenkian, thunkian, G. denken, dünken, Icel. þekkja to perceive, to know, þykkja to seem, Goth. þagkjan, þaggkjan, to think, þygkjan to think, to seem, OL. tongere to know. Cf. Thank, Thought.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Thought ; present participle & verbal noun Thinking
Definitions
  1. To seem or appear; -- used chiefly in the expressions methinketh or methinks, and methought. structurally similar to Russ. mne kazhetsya ✍ These are genuine Anglo-Saxon expressions, equivalent to it seems to me, it seemed to me. In these expressions me is in the dative case.
  2. To employ any of the intellectual powers except that of simple perception through the senses; to exercise the higher intellectual faculties.
    For that I am I know, because I think. Dryden.
  3. Specifically: -- (a) To call anything to mind; to remember; as, I would have sent the books, but I did not think of it.
    Well thought upon; I have it here. Shak.
    (b) To reflect upon any subject; to muse; to meditate; to ponder; to consider; to deliberate.
    And when he thought thereon, he wept. Mark xiv. 72.
    He thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? Luke xii. 17.
    (c) To form an opinion by reasoning; to judge; to conclude; to believe; as, I think it will rain to-morrow.
    Let them marry to whom they think best. Num. xxxvi. 6.
    (d) To purpose; to intend; to design; to mean.
    I thought to promote thee unto great honor. Num. xxiv. 11.
    Thou thought'st to help me. Shak.
    (e) To presume; to venture.
    Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. Matt. iii. 9.
    ✍ To think, in a philosophical use as yet somewhat limited, designates the higher intellectual acts, the acts preëminently rational; to judge; to compare; to reason. Thinking is employed by Hamilton as "comprehending all our collective energies." It is defined by Mansel as "the act of knowing or judging by means of concepts,"by Lotze as "the reaction of the mind on the material supplied by external influences." See Thought. Syn. -- To expect; guess; cogitate; reflect; ponder; contemplate; meditate; muse; imagine; suppose; believe. See Expect, Guess.
Think transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To conceive; to imagine.
    Charity . . . thinketh no evil. 1 Cor. xiii. 4,5.
  2. To plan or design; to plot; to compass. Obs.
    So little womanhood And natural goodness, as to think the death Of her own son. Beau. & Fl.
  3. To believe; to consider; to esteem.
    Nor think superfluous other's aid. Milton.

Webster 1913