thinking

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of think.

   They are thinking of starting their own business next spring.

   Thinking quickly, the driver swerved to avoid the fallen branch.

   Note

   The participle has a longer pedigree than the noun. It comes from Old English þenċende, an -ende participle like German and Dutch denkend, whose ending later became -ing and so came to match the noun meaning thought. After be it forms the progressive, and on its own it opens participial clauses. When it means "considering," it usually takes of, occasionally on.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The process of using one's mind to consider ideas, reason through problems, or form opinions.

   Critical thinking is one of the skills the course aims to develop.

   The new evidence forced a complete rethinking, and her thinking shifted toward caution.

   Similarreasoning, thought, reflection, deliberation, contemplation

   Note

   The noun often names a settled view rather than the act of thought. You can ask for someone's thinking on a subject, and an institution can own it, as in RAIL's "BR thinking on such substitutions" (2023). The preposition before the topic is on. It is usually uncountable, though the plural thinkings exists. The word is simply think plus -ing, already formed that way in Middle English.

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