Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The process of thinking; cogitation.
  • noun A product of thinking or other mental activity: synonym: idea.
  • noun The faculty of thinking or reasoning.
  • noun The intellectual activity or production of a particular time or group.
  • noun Consideration; attention.
  • noun Intention; purpose.
  • noun Expectation or conception.
  • idiom (a thought) To a small degree; somewhat.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act or the product of thinking.
  • noun The condition or state of a person during such mental action.
  • noun A synonym of cognition in the common threefold division of modes of consciousness: from the fact that thought, as above described, embraces every cognitive process except sensation, which is a mode of consciousness more allied to volition than to other kinds of cognition.
  • noun The objective element of the intellectual product.
  • noun A judgment or mental proposition, in which form the concept always appears.
  • noun An argument, inference, or process of reasoning, by which process the concept is always produced.
  • noun A concept, considered as something which, under the influence of experience and mental action, has a development of its own, more or less independent of individual caprices, and that in the life of an individual, and in history: as, the gradual development of Greek thought.
  • noun The subjective element of intellectual activity; thinking.
  • noun The understanding; intellect.
  • noun An intention; a design; a purpose; also, a half-formed determination or expectation with reference to future action: with of: as, I have some thought of going to Europe.
  • noun plural A particular frame of mind; a mood or temper.
  • noun Doubt; perplexity.
  • noun Care; trouble; anxiety; grief.
  • noun A slight degree; a fraction; a trifle; a little: used in the adverbial phrase a thought: as, a thought too small.
  • noun Preterit of think.
  • noun Preterit and past participle of think.
  • noun A rower's seat; a thwart.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of thinking; the exercise of the mind in any of its higher forms; reflection; cogitation.
  • noun Meditation; serious consideration.
  • noun That which is thought; an idea; a mental conception, whether an opinion, judgment, fancy, purpose, or intention.
  • noun Solicitude; anxious care; concern.
  • noun colloq. A small degree or quantity; a trifle
  • imp. & p. p. of think.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun form created in the mind, rather than the forms perceived through the five senses; an instance of thinking.
  • noun uncountable the process by which such forms arise or are manipulated; thinking.
  • noun way of thinking (associated with a group, nation or region).
  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of think.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
  • noun the organized beliefs of a period or group or individual
  • noun a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty
  • noun the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English gethōht, thōht; see tong- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English thought, ithoȝt, from Old English þōht, ġeþōht ("process of thinking, thought; mind; a thought, idea, purpose; decree; compassion, viscera") and geþeaht ("thought, consideration, counsel, advice, direction; design, contrivance, scheme; council, assembly"), from Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz, *gaþanhtan (“thought”), from Proto-Indo-European *tong-, *tonǵ- (“to think”). Cognate with Scots thocht ("thought"), West Frisian oandacht ("attention, regard, thought"), Dutch gedachte ("thought"), German Andacht ("reverence, devotion, prayer"), Icelandic þóttur ("thought").

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Examples

  • He was so beautiful and gracious -- with such a light in his eyes -- and I thought -- oh, I _thought_ we were so happy!

    The Royal Pawn of Venice A Romance of Cyprus Lawrence Turnbull

  • I-- I thought you helped yourself to my lobsters -- I _thought_ I thought it.

    Judith Lynn A Story of the Sea Annie Hamilton Donnell

  • Those people did not realize what they were trying to make her believe, it was not only that her husband had been the instigator of a mean little cheat which had cost years of suffering to helpless neighbors, it was the total destruction of all that she had thought Neale to be ... _thought_ him?

    The Brimming Cup Dorothy Canfield Fisher 1918

  • She thought and she _thought_, and all she could say was

    Hillsboro People Dorothy Canfield Fisher 1918

  • Excellent, too, is J.F. Clarke's definition: "Sentiment is nothing but thought blended with feeling; _thought made affectionate, sympathetic, moral_."

    Primitive Love and Love-Stories Henry Theophilus Finck 1890

  • "Dolly," he said, "have you never thought -- not even _thought_ that you would like to have made a grand marriage yourself?"

    Vagabondia 1884 Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886

  • And the little boy who was asked if he thought he should like a hymn-book for his birthday present replied that "he _thought_ he should like a hymn-book, but he _knew_ he should like a squirt."

    Collections and Recollections George William Erskine Russell 1886

  • -- The relation of thought to action filled my mind on waking, and I found myself carried toward a bizarre formula, which seems to have something of the night still clinging about it: _Action is but coarsened thought_; thought become concrete, obscure, and unconscious.

    Amiel's Journal Henri Fr��d��ric Amiel 1885

  • My mistress did not forget this, and later on she used to remind me of the time when I thought, asking me if I still _thought.

    The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme): The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux With Additional Writings and Sayings of St. Thérèse de Lisieux Th��r��se 1885

  • He could never do it under her opposition, but he thought he could do it and take the consequences -- he _thought_ he could.

    The History of David Grieve Humphry Ward 1885

Comments

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  • "Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought." Henri Bergson

    January 11, 2007

  • "The presence of thoughts creates in each person the illusion that they are in control of their life.

    Most people never get to the point of realizing, 'Well, that's not me doing it having thoughts.' If you ever get that far it's a short step to realizing, 'Well, wait a minute! When did I ever decide to have any of the thoughts I had?'"

    -- Jan Cox

    January 23, 2007