train of thought

Idioms  

1. A succession of connected ideas, a path of reasoning, as in You've interrupted my train of thought; now what was I saying? This idiom, which uses train in the sense of “an orderly sequence,” was first recorded in 1651, in philosopher Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan.

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Example Sentences

Some mornings there might be three or four messages; other times, Chloé might have got carried away and recorded 12 or 13 trains of thought.

From Los Angeles Times

“On Amazon, it’s literally, you get two bottles, well, it comes in two,” Kory started to explain, before stopping that train of thought.

From Salon

Kylee sees my face and pauses like she lost her train of thought.

From Literature

A searing pain erupts in the center of my left palm, disrupting my train of thought.

From Literature

This train of thought may sound childish, but bear in mind that Penelope had muddled through without her parents for many a year.

From Literature

Related Words

• acumen
• analysis
• argument
• hypothesis
• inference
• interpretation
• premise
• proposition
• rationale
• thinking