thought

noun

1. (countable)A representation created in the mind without the use of one's faculties of vision, sound, smell, touch, or taste; an instance of thinking.

   “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

   “I hate the thought of going back to work Monday morning.”

   “I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.”

   “He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.”

2. (uncountable)The operation by which mental activity arise or are manipulated; the process of thinking; the agency by which thinking is accomplished.

   “Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.”

   “The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.”

   “What has been especially striking in recent decades, however, is the rise of new outlooks challenging the very idea of a nucleated (if evasive) inner personal identity. … We don't think our thoughts, they think us; we are but the bearers of discourses, our selves are discursive constructs. Within such frames of analysis, any notion of the ascent of selfhood is but idle teleological myth, a humanist hagiography.”

3. (countable)A way of thinking (associated with a group, nation or region).

   “Traditional eastern thought differs markedly from that of the west.”

4. (dialectal, uncountable)Anxiety, distress.

   “Which of you by taking thought, can adde one cubite vnto his ſtature?”

5. (uncountable)The careful consideration of multiple factors; deliberation.

   “After much thought, I have decided to stay.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A very small amount, distance, etc.; a whit or jot.

   “'Bide the night at Heriotside,' says he. 'It's a thought out of your way, but it's a comfortable bit.'”

verb

1. (form-of, participle, past)simple past and past participle of think

   “Hi! I thought I’d come over and introduce myself. My name’s Chema.”

   “I'd previously been thought to be a thorough fool.”