- think
- think 1 Think, conceive, imagine, fancy, realize, envisage, envision are comparable when they mean to form an idea or notion of something in the mind.Think, the most general and least explicit word of this group, may imply nothing more than the entrance of an idea or notion into one's mind{
please do not think of it
}but often it suggests some consideration or reflection typically resulting in a decision or judgment{think one plot better than another
}{think that a change in occupation is desirable
}or it implies a conscious mental act such as a recalling or recollection{try to think how the accident happened
}or a bringing of a definite picture or a clear idea into one's mind{one cannot think infinity
}{think what a sacrifice he has made
}or the framing of a purpose or intention{he . . . thought he would send for his mother; and then he thought he would not— Hardy
}Conceive implies a bringing forth in the mind of an organized product of thought (as an idea, a plan, a project, or a design); often the term suggests the growth and development of that idea as the mind dwells upon it and brings it into being{it was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life— Gibbon
}{they're philosophers .... They can't help conceiving the highest good in terms of intelligence and morality— Wouk
}Imagine carries a stronger implication than conceive does of visualization or of definitely creating a mental image of a thing; thus, one can conceive, but scarcely imagine, a world of more than three dimensions{the girl was in his mind .... He couldn't help it, imagined seeing her in the things that were hanging on the line— Malamud
}{I could imagine easily original plots for stories or plays, but never received any impulse to write them— &
}Fancy (see also LIKE) may differ little from imagine, but it commonly suggests unreality or a degree of untruth in the idea conceived or the image developed; sometimes it even implies a tendency to cut oneself off from facts and to be governed by one's dreams or desires{fancied himself as an infallible prophet . . . and master of such powers that they awed even him— Ogdon
}{some fancied she might marry again, but others didn't think she ever would, being too independent— Phillpotts
}Realize (see also REALIZE 1) implies a very vivid conception or imagination through which a grasp of the significance of a thing is attained{burning with the passion of infinitely realized and therefore eternally restless love— Sullivan
}{people say that they cannot realize these big numbers. But that is the last thing anyone wants to do with big numbers—to realize them— Eddington
}Envisage and envision imply a conception or imagination actually or potentially so clear or so detailed that one does or can contemplate it as though it were before one{education ... as Hitler envisaged it, was not to be con-fined to stuffy classrooms but to be furthered by a Spartan, political and martial training— Shirer
}{envisaging the future without fear— Bennett
}{he had envisioned the starred face of the night with high exaltation and noble inspiration— Wolfe
}Analogous words: *consider, weigh, study, contemplate: *understand, comprehend, appreciate: surmise, *conjecture, guess2 Think, cogitate, reflect, reason, speculate, deliberate can all mean to use one's powers of conception, judgment, or inference in regard to any matter or subject which concerns one or interests one.Think is the general term implying mental activity for the sake of forming ideas or of reaching conclusions; the term need not suggest closeness of application, clearness in the ideas formed, or correctness in the conclusions reached, though when used without qualification it often does suggest the attainment or approximation of these{when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things— 1 Cor 13:11
}{colleges are places where at least some men learn to think— Lippmann
}{I am even prepared to be told that when you paid the price of this book you were paying me to think for you— Shaw
}Cogitate places more stress on the process than upon the results of thinking; it is often used to suggest the appearance or the atmosphere of profound but not necessarily productive thinking{still cogitating and looking for an explanation in the fire— Dickens
}{Mrs. Berry had not cogitated long ere she pronounced distinctly and without a shadow of dubiosity: "My opinion is . . . "— Meredith
}Reflect usually implies a turning of one's thoughts back upon or back to something that exists, has occurred, or needs reexamining; it implies quiet, unhurried, and serious consideration or study{stood reflecting on the circumstances of the preceding hours— Hardy
}{all the most important things in his life, [he] sometimes reflected, had been determined by chance— Cather
}{began to . . . study its organization, reflect on its psychology and political techniques and ponder the results— Shirer
}Reason implies consecutive logical thought, beginning with a postulate, a premise, or definite data or evidence and proceeding through inferences drawn from these to a conclusion or judgment{since, where all is uncertain, we must reason from what is probable of human nature—Quiller-Couch
}{no man as near death as I was feeling, could, I reasoned, be absorbed by such trifles— Lucas
}Speculate implies the processes of reasoning but stresses either the uncertainty of the premises or the incompleteness of the data and therefore usually imputes a hypothetical or theoretical character to the conclusions reached{the two women speculated with deep anxiety on whether or not little Pamela had died of exposure— Cheever
}{it is interesting to speculate whether it is not a misfortune that two of the greatest masters of diction in our language, Milton and Dryden, triumph with a dazzling disregard of the soul— T. S. Eliot
}Deliberate suggests slow and careful thought or reasoning and fair consideration of various aspects in an attempt to reach a conclusion often on a matter of public interest{lawmakers . . . can—and do—spend huge amounts of time deliberating matters of absolute insignificance— Armbrister
}{please you, deliberate a day or two— Shak.
}{the future relations of the two countries could now be deliberated on with a hope of settlement— Froude
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
