Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or practice of one that thinks; thought.
- n. A way of reasoning; judgment: To my thinking, this is not a good idea.
- adj. Characterized by thought or thoughtfulness; rational: We are thinking animals.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The mental operation performed by one who thinks.
- n. The faculty of thought; the mind.
- n. That which is thought; a thought, idea, belief, opinion, notion, or the like.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the faculty of thought; cogitative; capable of a regular train of ideas.
- n. The act of thinking; mode of thinking; imagination; cogitation; judgment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
- adj. endowed with the capacity to reason
Examples
“I remember thinking that his debate performance was fine, his "problem" was that he was * thinking* before responding to a question, which gives off the appearance of being clumsy with words.”
“Thus, if Simmias is thinking about Socrates, a quality of Simmias corresponds to both the concepts ˜thinking of™ and ˜thought about™.”
“It would be thinking if we personify it a little, since it wouldn't exactly be *thinking*, I guess, OH MY GOD!”
“Is there a problem with my thinking or is *my thinking* itself a problem.”
“_Themistocles used to walk at night because (as he said) he couldn't sleep_.a. Verbs of _thinking_ and _saying_ often stand in the Subjunctive in causal clauses as though the act of thinking or saying, and not the contents of the thought or language, constituted the reason.”
“_I am thinking_ (this is said in a whisper, and in confidence -- of two kinds), _I am thinking that you don't admire him quite as much as you did three weeks ago_.”
“Escape was impossible; so, heavy and sad, I paced the seven miles, which separated Covey's house from St. Michael's -- thinking much by the solitary way -- averse to my condition; but _thinking_ was all I could do.”
“* thinking thinking thinking* Crap, it just won't come to me.”
“I hope you are all doing well – I’m thinking about opening my diary for guest entries for a while – just thinking how would you feel about that?”
“It’s like everyone is an intellectual, thinking and thinking and constantly thinking ”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘thinking’.
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
Athenian, Socratic, philosopher, dialogue, philosophy, philosophical, politic, stubborn, bright, smart, thoughtful, extrapolate and 243 more...
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The Enterprise
enterprise, gameplan, goal, gimmick, intendment of int..., lay of the land, machination, notions, object, objectives, pitch, picture and 54 more...
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Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard
theodolite, Arcadia, carnal embrace, QED, sin of Onan, Fermat's last the..., landskip, bootboy, yesterday's upsta..., whole numbers, rice pudding, cabbages and 86 more...
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Chit Chat
Conversations that are shorter than those featured in my conversations list.
props, frass, narwhal, preggers, mu, hype, heterotopia, sans serif, cow orker, snicker-snack, modality road, boolean poetry and 77 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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soul mate
soul mate, soul mates, soul, portishead, wounded, death, depression, hurt, the cure, pain, longing, rat and 424 more...
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Diversified Obsessions
calendars, running, music, men, friends, motherhood, art, food, solitude, connection, drama, humor and 117 more...
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Things I adore
words, linguistics, etymology, philosophy, literature, research, poetry, science, cognition, solitude, nihilism, zen and 139 more...
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not the sum of their parts
words formed as the combination of two or more other words, but which have a meaning unrelated to either of the constituent words
earwig, ladyfinger, pantywaist, dovetail, eavesdropper, blackmail, greenhorn, mango, carpet, penny farthing, farthingale, damage and 118 more...
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GrantNeufeld's Words
community, revolutionary, knitting, knitter, activist, cooperation, collaboration, democracy, change, progressive, green, environment and 39 more...
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Dictation words
Dictation Word list
suddenly, plumber, transport, discipline, leaking, stethoscope, railway, fiercely, aeroplane, travelling, electrician, thieves and 49 more...
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vera is
pragmatic, quiet, inconsiderate, compassionate, brooding, obsessive, odd, loyal, musical, lazy, wordy, procrastinator and 12 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for thinking.
oroboros Thanks Seanahan, that's high praise indeed! :) Aug 30, 2007
seanahan I score this +5 for Oroboros, the highest score I've ever given out. Aug 29, 2007
reesetee You can't delete it. It's already a classic. :-) Aug 29, 2007
uselessness Eh, I'm not really in the mood for deciding what I want. Too much thought required. I wish this site had pictures. Aug 29, 2007
oroboros Yes, U. it's a reading challenge, I know. But the comment section was virgin territory. If you want, I'll delete it... Aug 29, 2007
reesetee Wow. Thanks for sharing, oroboros. I know it must have been difficult.
But really...do you know any jokes? Aug 29, 2007
uselessness That sucks. Too much reading. Can't you just tell a joke or something? Aug 29, 2007
oroboros It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then --just to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.
That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.
I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't help myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau, Muir, Confucius and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"
One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."
This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."
"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
But Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver.
"You think as much as college professors and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"
"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.
She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.
"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.
I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors.
They didn't open. The library was closed.
To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye, "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.
You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster.
This is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.
I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. Aug 29, 2007