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Etymology
Origin of thinker
First recorded in 1400–50, thinker is from the late Middle English word thenkare. See think 1, -er 1
Explanation
A thinker is just what it sounds like — a person who does a lot of thinking. If you're a thinker, it may take you a while to make an important decision. You can use the noun thinker when you talk about a smart, scholarly person who's known for being an intellectual, or to describe someone who contemplates every choice at great length. Serious students are thinkers, and so are little kids who mull things over carefully, such as deciding which kind of doughnut to choose. Perhaps the most famous thinker is Auguste Rodin's bronze statue "The Thinker," which shows a man sitting, chin in hand, deep in thought.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A strategic thinker, someone that can also work with the management team and mentor them and bring them along,” Mohn said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
A bold thinker or visionary is not necessarily a great leader.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
The Scots thinker did not invent many of the economic concepts in his most influential book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Many of these ideas can be traced back to the controversial thinker and tech founder Curtis Yarvin, who has been called the "founder of the Dark Enlightenment".
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Siddhartha raised himself and saw a monk in a yellow gown, with shaved head, sitting opposite him in the attitude of a thinker.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
They are the thinkers and leaders setting its course.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
Anthropic’s commitment to responsibility has allowed it to attract “some of the best minds and thinkers in the AI business,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
In the end, for all the movie’s pride in great thinkers, it does precious little thinking itself.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
Gerd believes it's important to look both to the future and to a history before the Nazi era, when German-speaking lands were known as a place of "poets and thinkers."
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Countless amateur thinkers took a crack at the problem, as did anthropologists and archaeologists when those disciplines were invented.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
