thinking cap
/ˈθɪŋkɪŋ ˌkæp/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.44 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A metaphorical state of focused thinking or concentration, invoked to encourage problem-solving.
Humorous
Example Sentences
- "This project looks like it will be a real challenge – put on your thinking cap!"
- "Now suppose they put on their "thinking-caps" a moment or two, and consider what is going on in the great world around them. [...] Before you pull off your "thinking-cap" cast a look around your own country—free, prosperous, powerful, independent; yet how full of wickedness, and how unmindful of its obligation to the God of nations!"
- "Come children, gather around the desk, and we will have a chat for half an hour. We want you to put on your thinking caps, and show what manner of boys and girls you are."
- "The story you shall have, then, just as well as I can tell it: and you must put on your thinking-caps, so as to remember all you can of it; and be sure to ask questions about what you don't understand."
- ""Costly gifts, my dear child, are not always acceptable as a proof of love. And if you put on your thinking cap, perhaps you will find that you, too, can take an acceptable keepsake to your teacher." / "Why, I'm sure I've nothing worth taking to her, mamma. And all the thinking caps in the world can't help me to an idea.""
- "As time passed the Great Spirit grew fonder and fonder of his good-natured friend, and was grieved to see him suffer for the lack of a full dinner pot and stomach, so the Great Spirit put on his thinking-cap and learned a way to help Mr. Turtle. "The old fellow needs a wife!" said the Great Spirit taking off his thinking-cap."
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈθɪŋkɪŋ ˌkæp/
- British English: /ˈθɪŋkɪŋ ˌkæp/