think
/ˈθɪŋk/ verb, noun
Forms thinks thinking thought thinkest thoughtest thinketh thunk thinck thinke
- verb (transitive) To ponder, to go over in one's mind. “Idly, the detective thought what his next move should be.”
- verb (transitive) To have (some statement) in one's mind; to say to oneself mentally. “"I should phone my mother," I thought.”
- verb (intransitive) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem. “I thought for three hours about the problem and still couldn’t find the solution.”
- verb (intransitive) To conceive of something or someone [with of; or (rare) with on] “I tend to think of her as rather ugly.”
- verb (transitive) To be of the opinion (that); to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as. “I don't think it worth complaining about the leak in the roof, is it?”
- verb (transitive) To guess; to reckon; to believe while admittedly being uncertain. “We should/would have thought she could've washed her hands before, at least.”
- verb To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
- verb To presume; to venture.
- noun (chiefly UK) An act of thinking; consideration (of something). “I'll have a think about that and let you know.”
- verb (obsolete except in methinks) To seem, to appear.
Synonyms
ponder have opinion deem guess See Thesaurus:suppose believe consider conceive opine suppose imagine reckon guess cogitate cerebrate remember retrieve recall call back call up recollect intend mean
Etymology
From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from Old English þenċan, from Proto-West Germanic *þankijan, from Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think, feel, know”).
Cognate with Scots think, thynk (“to think”), North Frisian teenk, taanke, tanke, tånke (“to think”), Saterland Frisian toanke (“to think”), West Frisian tinke (“to think”), Dutch denken, dinken (“to think”), Afrikaans dink (“to think”), Low German denken, dinken (“to think”), German denken (“to think”), Danish tænke (“to think”), Swedish tänka (“to think”), Norwegian Bokmål tenke (“to think”), Norwegian Nynorsk tenkja (“to think”), Icelandic þekkja (“to know, recognise, identify, perceive”), Gothic þagkjan (“to think”), Latin tongeō (“know”).
From Middle English thinken, thynken, thenken (also thinchen, thünchen), from Old English þyncan (“to seem, appear”), from Proto-Germanic *þunkijaną (“to seem”).
Cognate with Dutch dunken (“to seem, appear”), German dünken (“to seem, appear”), Danish tykkes (“to seem”), Swedish tycka (“to seem, think, regard”), Icelandic þykja (“to be regarded, be considered, seem”). More at methinks.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To seem or appear; --used chiefly in the expressions methinketh or methinks, and methought.
- verb To employ any of the intellectual powers except that of simple perception through the senses; to exercise the higher intellectual faculties.
- verb To conceive; to imagine.
- verb To plan or design; to plot; to compass. [Obs.]
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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “think”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details