thinker
nounUK /ˈθɪŋ.kə/ · US /ˈθɪŋ.kɚ/
Etymology From Middle English thinkere, equivalent to think + -er. Compare West Frisian tinker (“thinker”), Dutch denker (“thinker”), German Denker (“thinker”), Danish tænker (“thinker”), Swedish tänkare (“thinker”).
1
One who spends time thinking, contemplating or meditating.
- The doer and the thinker No allowance for the other.1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:
2
An intellectual, such as a philosopher or theologian.
- From his studies of these thinkers and activists, Mr. Obama took what he called the “Niebuhrian” lesson that we can have “a cleareyed view of the world and the realities of cruelty and sin and greed and violence, and yet, still maintain a sense of hope and possibility, as an act of will and leap of faith.”2020 December 8, Michiko Kakutani, “Obama, the Best-Selling Author, on Reading, Writing and Radical Empathy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
3
Slang The brain; the mind.
- "Well, I tried to do like you and grandfather say; don't use my thinker, use imagination."2011, Arthur Kornhaber, Rosie's Miracle: A Novel, page 271:
4
Slang A poser; a conundrum that requires some thinking.
- HANK: The NRA is a Washington D.C. based organization. Are you telling me you support Washington D.C.? DALE: That's a thinker.1997, "How to Fire a Rifle Without Really Trying" (King of the Hill TV series, season 2 episode 1)
- Derived terms
- deep thinker, doublethinker, freethinker, groupthinker, lateral thinker, nonthinker, unthinker, wishful thinker, wrongthinker