thinking
[noun]
Synonyms:
- reasoning, conjecture, idea, judgment, opinion, position, theory, view
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- thoughtful, contemplative, intelligent, meditative, philosophical, rational, reasoning, reflective

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Antonyms: unthinking

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. think‧ing¹ /ˈθɪŋkɪŋ/ noun [uncountable]
[Word Family: noun: think, rethink, thinker, thinking, the unthinkable; verb: think, rethink; adjective: thinkable ≠ unthinkable, thinking ≠ unthinking; adverb: unthinkingly]

1. your opinion or ideas about something, or your attitude towards it:
The Administration’s thinking changed as the war progressed.
Well, to my way of thinking (=in my opinion), they should have done that years ago.
He laughed and accused me of wishful thinking (=falsely believing that something will happen just because I want it to).
the rich countries’ current thinking on aid
thinking behind
the thinking behind the company’s new public relations campaign

2. when you think about something:
If it weren’t for Jeff’s quick thinking, Tillie could have been badly hurt.
I really needed to do some thinking.
clear/critical/analytical etc thinking (=a particular way of thinking about things)

3. put on your thinking cap informal to try to think seriously about a problem in order to solve it
⇒ lateral thinking

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. thinking² adjective [only before noun]
[Word Family: noun: think, rethink, thinker, thinking, the unthinkable; verb: think, rethink; adjective: thinkable ≠ unthinkable, thinking ≠ unthinking; adverb: unthinkingly]

1. a thinking person is intelligent and tries to think carefully about important subjects

2. the thinking man’s/woman’s etc something used to say that someone or something is liked by intelligent people:
the thinking man’s pop band

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

thinking
noun
I. using your mind to think
ADJ. deep, hard, serious This topic requires a lot of deep thinking.
good Yes, we'll phone them instead?that's good thinking (= a good idea).
clear, logical | muddled | quick | forward The school would have made better use of the money with a little forward thinking.
positive | abstract, analytical, critical | creative, independent, innovative, original | lateral | wishful His claims to be a millionaire are just wishful thinking.
QUANT. piece a brilliant piece of lateral thinking
VERB + THINKING do We have some hard thinking to do before we agree to the plan.
apply The book shows you how to apply critical thinking to your studies.
PREP. ~ behind It was difficult to see what the thinking was behind their eventual decision.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

thinking
II. opinion
ADJ. contemporary, current, modern | fresh, new | conventional, old, traditional | divergent | government | Labour, Republican, etc. | economic, educational, historical, political, scientific, etc. Traditional educational thinking placed importance on learning by rote.
feminist, socialist, etc. | military, strategic
VERB + THINKING develop, shape | clarify, explain | change They are unlikely to have changed their thinking so soon.
dominate His writings on motorized warfare dominated strategic thinking in the 1930s.
PREP. in … ~ contemporary trends in feminist thinking
~ about/on What is the current Conservative thinking on social security?
PHRASES a shift in sb's thinking There's been a shift in government thinking on genetically-modified food.
to sb's way of thinking (= in sb's opinion) To my way of thinking, it would just be a massive waste of money.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

thinking

do some thinking
I’ve had a chance to do some thinking.
quick thinking
He was only saved by the quick thinking of two doctors.
hard thinking
Over the next two days a lot of hard thinking went into the campaign.
serious thinking
Your mother and I have been doing some serious thinking.
clear/logical thinking
Above 24,000 feet, the lack of oxygen makes clear thinking almost impossible.
critical thinking (=when you make careful judgments about how good or bad something is)
Rudi wanted them to practice critical thinking by analysing the world they lived in.
creative thinking (=when you use your imagination to produce new ideas or things)
Her solution to the problem was an example of good creative thinking.
joined-up thinking British English (=when all the different parts of a plan or situation are considered together, so that it has better results)
The media has criticized the lack of joined-up thinking in the government’s plans for dealing with a terrorist attack.
good thinking (=used to say that an idea is good)
‘We’d better lock the door.’ ‘Good thinking.’

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲