Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Thoughtful |
ThoughtfulAdjective1. Having intellectual depth; "a deeply thoughtful essay". 2. Exhibiting or characterized by careful thought; "a thoughtful paper". 3. Acting with or showing thought and good sense; "a sensible young man". 4. Taking heed; giving close and thoughtful attention; "heedful of the warnings"; "so heedful a writer"; "heedful of what they were doing". 5. Showing consideration and anticipation of needs; "it was thoughtful of you to bring flowers"; "a neighbor showed thoughtful attention". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "thoughtful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1120. (references) |
Synonyms: ThoughtfulSynonyms: attentive (adj), heedful (adj), kind (adj), sensible (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: heedless (adj), thoughtless (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Care | Adjective: careful regardful, heedful; taking care; Verb: particular; prudent; (cautious); considerate; thoughtful; (deliberative); provident; (prepared); alert; (active); sure-footed. |
Intelligence Wisdom | Cool; cool-headed, long-headed, hardheaded, strong-headed; long-sighted, calculating, thoughtful, reflecting; solid, deep, profound. |
Thought | Adjective: thinking; Verb: thoughtful, pensive, meditative, reflective, museful, wistful, contemplative, speculative, deliberative, studious, sedate, introspective, Platonic, philosophical. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Thoughtful |
| English words defined with "thoughtful": attentive, attentiveness ♦ brooding, broody ♦ Cogitabund, consideration, Considerative, contemplation, contemplative ♦ forethoughtful ♦ grave accent ♦ heedful ♦ inattentiveness ♦ kind ♦ meditative, melancholy, musing ♦ pensive, perspicacious, pondering ♦ reflective, ruminative ♦ sagacious, sapient ♦ thoughtfully, thoughtfulness. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "thoughtful": BROWN STUDY ♦ Frog ♦ planning estimate, pre-estimation. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "thoughtful": skeptic. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You've grown into a thoughtful, beautiful woman with the capacity to care more for others than you do for yourself (Birds of Prey; writing credit: Adam Armus; Nora Kay Foster) Jerry, this is the most thoughtful gift you've ever given me. (Seinfeld; writing credit: Andreas Lenze; Bea Schmidt) Thank you for being so thoughtful. (Emma; writing credit: Douglas McGrath) I can't understand why a boy as smart and thoughtful as you would do such a thing (The Last Brickmaker in America; writing credit: Joe Wehinger) Damn, I was going for thoughtful. (10 Things I Hate About You; writing credit: Karen McCullah Lutz; Kirsten Smith) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Fun of Being Thoughtful (1950) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Kitty" by Aytun Çelebi Commentary: "A thoughtful moment." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | Deeply earnest and thoughtful people stand on shaky footing with the public. |
John Ruskin | The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most. |
Lord Byron | Our thoughts take the wildest flight: Even at the moment when they should arrange themselves in thoughtful order. |
Margaret Mead | Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: Indeed it's the only thing that ever has. |
Omar Khayyam | The thoughtful soul to solitude retires. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Mr. Knightley was thoughtful again |
Sylvie and Bruno | Carroll, Lewis | Sylvie whispered the words, several times over, with a thoughtful smile, and then made her decision |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | It was a habit with Scrooge, whenever he became thoughtful, to put his hands in his breeches pockets |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | She became thoughtful and went about her work |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | After a few fast steps they slowed to a gentle, thoughtful pace |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | A consensus statement is a thoughtful and thorough data-driven synthesis of the current science based on a comprehensive review of the existing peer-reviewed medical literature, a series of state-of-the-art scientific presentations, and public testimony. (references) | |
Economic History | Poland | Polish businesses generally spend money wisely, after thoughtful and sometimes lengthy consideration. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | FROG, n. A reptile with edible legs. The first mention of frogs in profane literature is in Homer's narrative of the war between them and the mice. Skeptical persons have doubted Homer's authorship of the work, but the learned, ingenious and industrious Dr. Schliemann has set the question forever at rest by uncovering the bones of the slain frogs. One of the forms of moral suasion by which Pharaoh was besought to favor the Israelities was a plague of frogs, but Pharaoh, who liked them fricasees, remarked, with truly oriental stoicism, that he could stand it as long as the frogs and the Jews could; so the programme was changed. The frog is a diligent songster, having a good voice but no ear. The libretto of his favorite opera, as written by Aristophanes, is brief, simple and effective -- "brekekex-koax"; the music is apparently by that eminent composer, Richard Wagner. Horses have a frog in each hoof -- a thoughtful provision of nature, enabling them to shine in a hurdle race. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Lynne Cheney | Oh, Laura Bush is just wonderful. I think everyone knows the way in which she's wonderful. She's kind and she's thoughtful. |
Robert Novak | But there are thoughtful Republicans with second thoughts about invading. House Majority Leader Dick Armey has warned against an unprovoked attack. Caution from Brent Scowcroft, Jack Kemp, Chuck Hagel, Dick Lugar. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Martin van Buren | 1837-1841 | The thoughtful framers of our Constitution legislated for our country as they found it. |
Grover Cleveland | 1885-1889; 1893-1897 | Every thoughtful American must realize the importance of checking at its beginning any tendency in public or private station to regard frugality and economy as virtues which we may safely outgrow. |
George Bush | 1989-1993 | Democracy brings the undeniable value of thoughtful dissent, and we have heard some dissenting voices here at home, some reckless, most responsible. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Thoughtful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.53% of the time. "Thoughtful" is used about 638 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.53% | 635 | 10,242 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.47% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 638 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "thoughtful": become thoughtful ♦ thoughtful of. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "thoughtful": thoughtful-faced. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
quote thoughtful | 33 |
thoughtful gift | 15 |
poem thoughtful | 10 |
saying thoughtful | 10 |
child english thoughtful | 8 |
thoughtful | 7 |
question thoughtful | 4 |
thoughtful words | 4 |
free gift thoughtful | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "thoughtful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i zhytur në mendime (absorbed in thought, bemused, immersed in thought, pensive), i mendueshëm (pensive, thinkable), i menduar (advised, considered, intended, pensive, reputed), i matur (abstinent, calculating, canny, careful, cautious, chary, chaste, circumlocutory, circumspect, circumspective, conservative, deliberate, discreet, forehanded, gingerly, judicious, moderate, provident, prudent, reasonable, sober, staid, wary, well advised, well balanced), i kujdesshëm (accurate, attentive, canny, careful, cautious, chary, circumspect, circumspective, conservative, considerate, deliberate, diligent, forethoughtful, forward-looking, grandmotherly, guarded, heedful, monitorial, observant, precise, up and coming, wary). (various references) | |
Arabic | كثير التفكير, مدروس (calculated, deliberate, elaborate, examined, forethought, fully considered, mature, studied, well advised), وقور (lordly, magisterial, proper, sedate, serious, sober, solemn, staid), عميق التفكير, رصين (calm, equable, equal, sedate, serious, sober, sober minded, solemn, solid, staid, steady). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | тактичен (tactful), грижлив (attentive, careful, fatherly, mindful, nice, regardful, solicitous, tender, thorough, tidy), внимателен (affable, alert, attentive, careful, cautious, circumspect, considerate, delicate, guarded, heedful, intent, nice, precautious, scrupulous, ware, wary, watchful), вежлив (affable, polite, urbane), многозначителен (knowing, meaningful, pregnant, telling), замислен (abstracted, broody, contemplative, grave, immersed in thought, intended, meditative, pensive, preoccupied, reflective, ruminant, wistful), дълбокозамислен, деликатен (considerate, delicate, fastidious, fine, fragile, nice, pernickety, prickly, slender, slippery, slippy, soft, tender, ticklish). (various references) | |
Chinese | 週到 (considerate), 懃 (solicitous), 懂事 (intelligent, sensible), 周道, 周 (all, attentive, circuit, complete, cycle, encircle, every, lap, week). (various references) | |
Czech | zadumaný (bemused), uvážený, starostlivý (anxious), pozorný (attentive, civil, considerate, courteous, heedful, intent, observant, observing, regardful), přemýšlivý (studious, thinking), ohleduplný (attentive, considerate). (various references) | |
Dutch | nadenkend (meditative, pensive, thinking). (various references) | |
Esperanto | meditema (meditative, pensive, thinking), konsiderema, antaŭzorga. (various references) | |
Farsi | فکور (Thinker), متفکر (Pensive, Thinker), اندیشمند (Thinker), اندیشناک (Anxious, Pensive), بافکر (Brainy, Considerate), باملاحظه (Considerate, Tender, Wary). (various references) | |
Finnish | miettivä (reflective), ajattelevainen (reflective, thinking). (various references) | |
French | songeur, sérieux, réfléchi (thinking), pensif, méditatif. (various references) | |
German | gedankenvoll (mindful, pensive, pensively, thoughtfully). (various references) | |
Greek | σκεπτικόσ (broody, cogitative, contemplative, pensive, reflective, ruminant, ruminative, sceptic, sceptical, skeptical, speculative, wistful), σκεφτικός (pensive), προσεκτικόσ (advertent, attentive, canny, careful, cautious, chary, chary of, close, heedful, mindful, observing, painstaking, precautious, regardful, tactful, wakeful, wary, watchful). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מתחשב (considerate, heedful), מהורהר (meditative, pensive), מהרהר. (various references) | |
Hungarian | meggondolt (advised, mature, prudent, reflective, sober minded, temperate, well advised), gondos (attentive, careful, diligent, heedful, mindful, painstaking, regardful, searching, solicitous, tender, tidy), gondolkodó (pensive, philosopher, reasonable, reasoning, reflective, thinker, thinking), gondolatokkal teli, figyelmes (attentive, be observant, considerate, mindful, observant, observing, open-eyed), elmélázó (broody), elgondolkodó. (various references) | |
Indonesian | tenggang (considerate). (various references) | |
Italian | pensieroso (pensive, ruminative). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 考え深い (deep-thinking), 深謀 (careful, deeply laid plan, deliberate), 深慮 (careful, deliberate, prudence, thoughtfulness), 気が利く (sensible, smart, tactful). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きがきく (sensible, smart, tactful), しんぼう (atrium, axle, careful, chamber of the heart, confidence, deeply laid plan, deliberate, endurance, patience, popularity, shaft), しんりょ (careful, deliberate, divine will, prudence, thoughtfulness), かんがえぶかい (deep-thinking). (various references) | |
Korean | 신중한 (Deliberate, Deliberative, Discreet, Prudent, Prudential). (various references) | |
Manx | smooinaghtagh (imaginable, notional, pensive, serious, thinking), frioosagh (advertent, attentive, careful, considerate, heedful, momentous, painstaker). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | oughtfulthay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pensativo (cogitative, contemplative, pensive). (various references) | |
Romanian | visãtor (air-monger, brooding, castle builder, day dreamer, dreamer, lotus eater, moony, notional, pensive, starry eyed, visionary, wistful, wool gathering), reflexiv (reflective, reflexive), profund (abstruse, deep, deeply, home-felt, keen, profound, profoundly, rootedly, sound, thick, thorough), prevãzãtor (cautious, chary, deliberate, discreet, far-seeing, provident, providently, prudent, wary, wide awake, wise), preocupat (busy, engrossed, preoccupied, solicitous), precaut (cagey, cautious, cautiously, circumspect, gingerly, precautious, prudent, safe, warily, wary), meditativ (cogitative, meditating, meditative, meditatively, mused, museful, musing, musingly, pensive, pensively, speculative, wistful), grijuliu (advertent, attentive, careful, cautious, chary, considerate, heedful, jealous, tender, wary), gânditor (meditative, meditatively, mind, mused, museful, musing, notionalist, pensive, speculative, thinker, thinking, wistful), cugetãtor (speculator, thinker), circumspect (cautious, circumspect, deliberate, discreet, wary), îngrijorat (alarmed, anxious, auxious, careful, concerned, disquiet, restless, sorrowful, troubled). (various references) | |
Russian | внимательный (attentive, careful, eye for detail, heedful, intent, mindful, nice observer, regardful, scrutinous). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zamišljen (abstracted, imaginary, notional, pensive, reflective, ruminant, ruminative, wistful), pažljiv (attentive, careful, considerate, heedful, mindful, regardful), obazriv (careful, cautious, circumspect, forethoughtful, heedful, prudent), misaon (thinking). (various references) | |
Spanish | prudente (advisable, careful, cautious, circumspect, circumspective, deliberate, discreet, politic, prudent, right-minded, safe, sound, wise), pensativo (digestible, drear, dreary, meditative, pensive, reflective, ruminative, thinkable, wistful), circunspecto (careful, cautious, circumspect, circumspective, discreet), atento (alive, appreciative, appreciatory, attentive, careful, courteous, gallant, heedful, helpful, intent, obliging, polite, solicitous). (various references) | |
Swedish | tankfull (contemplative, pensive, reflective, wistful). (various references) | |
Turkish | dikkatli (argus-eyed, assiduous, attentive, canny, careful, cautious, circumspect, gingerly, heedful, intense, intent, mindful, particular, regardful, rigorous, scrupulous, sleepless, solicitous, studious, wary, watchful), dalgın (absent, absent minded, abstracted, deep, distrait, dreamy, engrossed, far away, far off, faraway, glassy, lost, meditative, moony, pensive, plunged in thought, preoccupied, reflective, ruminant, ruminative, self-absorbed, stargazer, unheedful, vacant, vacuous, vague, wandering, wistful, woolgathering), düşünceli (abstracted, advised, circumspect, considerate, delicate, forethoughtful, meditative, minded, mindful, pensive, philosophic, philosophical, reflective, regardful, ruminant, ruminative, sophisticated, tactful, wistful, worried), özenli (assiduous, attentive, careful, elaborate, heedful, jealous, painstaking, regardful, scrupulous). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | уважний (attent, attentive, careful, considerate, heedful, mindful, nice, observant, observative, observing, ponderate, watchful), вдумливий, замислений (meditative, preoccupied). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | trầm tư (meditatingly, meditative), thận trọng thâm trầm, tư lự có suy nghĩ, sâu sắc ân cần, quan tâm, ngẫm nghĩ (cogitative, reffectingly), lo lắng (anxious, anxiously, fidgety, preoccupied, troubled, unquiet), chín chắn (mature, ripe). (various references) | |
Welsh | ystyrgar (meditative), meddylgar. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | benevolens. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "thoughtful": thoughtfully, thoughtfulness, thoughtfulnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "thoughtful": forethoughtful. (additional references) | |
Words containing "thoughtful": forethoughtfully, forethoughtfulness, forethoughtfulnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Thoughtful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: thoughful, throughtful. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "thoughtful" (pronounced thô"tful) |
| 4 | -t f u l | artful, boastful, deceitful, delightful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doubtful, eventful, fateful, fistful, fitful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, grateful, hateful, hurtful, spiteful, tactful, tasteful, insightful, lustful, mistrustful, neglectful, regretful, resentful, respectful, restful, rightful, uneventful, ungrateful, wasteful, wistful, zestful. |
| 3 | -f u l | apocryphal, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, blissful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, disdainful, disgraceful, doleful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fearful, flavorful, forceful, gainful, gleeful, graceful, harmful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, houseful, sorrowful, soulful, stifle, stressful, successful, suspenseful, tearful, thankful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mournful, muffle, needful, painful, panful, peaceful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, purposeful, raffle, remorseful, reshuffle, resourceful, riffle, rifle, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, unfaithful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, unsuccessful, untruthful, useful, vengeful, waffle, watchful, willful, wishful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "f-g-h-h-l-o-t-t-u-u" | |
-3 letters: thought. | |
-4 letters: fought, though. | |
-5 letters: flout, ghoul, glout, lough, ought, tough. | |
| Words containing the letters "f-g-h-h-l-o-t-t-u-u" | |
+2 letters: thoughtfully. | |
+4 letters: forethoughtful, thoughtfulness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Quotations: Speeches | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
