thought Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
    idea.
    • it was not a good idea
    • the thought never entered my mind
  2. noun the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
    cerebration; thinking; mentation; intellection; thought process.
    • thinking always made him frown
    • she paused for thought
  3. noun the organized beliefs of a period or group or individual
    • 19th century thought
    • Darwinian thought
  4. noun a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
    opinion; persuasion; sentiment; view.
    • my opinion differs from yours
    • I am not of your persuasion
    • what are your thoughts on Haiti?
  5. verb judge or regard; look upon; judge
    conceive; believe; think; 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
  6. verb expect, believe, or suppose
    guess; reckon; suppose; imagine; opine; think.
    • 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
  7. 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; think.
    • I've been thinking all day and getting nowhere
  8. verb recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection
    retrieve; remember; recall; recollect; call back; think; 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
  9. verb imagine or visualize
    think.
    • Just think--you could be rich one day!
    • Think what a scene it must have been!
  10. verb focus one's attention on a certain state
    think.
    • Think big
    • think thin
  11. verb have in mind as a purpose
    intend; think; 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
  12. verb decide by pondering, reasoning, or reflecting
    think.
    • Can you think what to do next?
  13. verb ponder; reflect on, or reason about
    think.
    • Think the matter through
    • Think how hard life in Russia must be these days
  14. verb dispose the mind in a certain way
    think.
    • Do you really think so?
  15. verb have or formulate in the mind
    think.
    • think good thoughts
  16. verb be capable of conscious thought
    think.
    • Man is the only creature that thinks
  17. verb bring into a given condition by mental preoccupation
    think.
    • She thought herself into a state of panic over the final exam

WordNet

Thought
Definitions
  1. imp. & p. p. of Think.
Thought noun
Etymology
OE. þoght, þouht, AS. þoht, geþoht, fr. þencean to think; akin to D. gedachte thought, MHG. daht, gedaht, Icel. þottr, þotti. See Think.
Definitions
  1. The act of thinking; the exercise of the mind in any of its higher forms; reflection; cogitation.
    Thought can not be superadded to matter, so as in any sense to render it true that matter can become cogitative. Dr. T. Dwight.
  2. Meditation; serious consideration.
    Pride, of all others the most dangerous fault, Proceeds from want of sense or want of thought. Roscommon.
  3. That which is thought; an idea; a mental conception, whether an opinion, judgment, fancy, purpose, or intention.
    Thus Bethel spoke, who always speaks his thought. Pope.
    Why do you keep alone, . . . Using those thoughts which should indeed have died With them they think on? Shak.
    Thoughts come crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose or to reject. Dryden.
    All their thoughts are against me for evil. Ps. lvi. 5.
  4. Solicitude; anxious care; concern.
    Hawis was put in trouble, and died with thought and anguish before his business came to an end. Bacon.
    Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink. Matt. vi. 25.
  5. A small degree or quantity; a trifle; as, a thought longer; a thought better. Colloq.
    If the hair were a thought browner. Shak.
    ✍ Thought, in philosophical usage now somewhat current, denotes the capacity for, or the exercise of, the very highest intellectual functions, especially those usually comprehended under judgment.
    This [faculty], to which I gave the name of the "elaborative faculty," -- the faculty of relations or comparison, -- constitutes what is properly denominated thought. Sir W. Hamilton.
    Syn. -- Idea; conception; imagination; fancy; conceit; notion; supposition; reflection; consideration; meditation; contemplation; cogitation; deliberation.

Webster 1913