thinking cap

noun

: a state or mood in which one thinks
usually used in the phrase put one's thinking cap on

Examples of thinking cap in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Strange Worlds: Improvised Science Fiction Sea Tea Comedy Theater, 15 Asylum St., Hartford The madcap improvers of the Sea Tea Improv empire put on their space-age thinking caps to create unique science fiction scenarios. Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 8 June 2024 While Karl Benz was inventing the car and his wife was road-tripping it in 1885, a French inventor named Léon Bollée put his thinking cap on. Alex Goy, Ars Technica, 27 May 2024 Please put back on your thinking cap and recall some of the earlier remarks that were made. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024 Every recreational drug that a person could take was in his system … put on your thinking caps — what happens when people take drugs? St. John Barned-Smith, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 May 2023 Time to put your thinking cap on. Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 13 Jan. 2022 Put on your sleuth-like thinking cap. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2021 The ultimate goal is a wireless memory prosthesis that could be worn like a real-life thinking cap by anyone seeking to learn something new, from veterans recovering from traumatic brain injuries to the elderly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease to students cramming for final exams. Robert Lee Hotz, WSJ, 13 Aug. 2021 For the former, Gullatt put on his thinking cap. Marc Bona, cleveland, 9 July 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1827, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of thinking cap was in 1827

Dictionary Entries Near thinking cap

Cite this Entry

“Thinking cap.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thinking%20cap. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

thinking cap

noun
: a state or mood in which one thinks
put on your thinking cap
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