I. think ‧ ing 1 /ˈθɪŋkɪŋ/ BrE AmE 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
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ verbs
▪ do some thinking
I’ve had a chance to do some thinking.
■ adjectives
▪ 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.’
II. thinking 2 BrE AmE 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