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What is the difference between consider and think?

consider | think |

Think is a synonym of consider.



In transitive terms the difference between consider and think

is that consider is to take up as an example while think is to consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.

As a noun think is

an act of thinking; consideration (of something).

consider

English

Alternative forms

* considre (archaic)

Verb

(en verb)
  • (label) To think about seriously.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Thenceforth to speculations high or deep / I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind / Considered all things visible.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-03-15, volume=410, issue=8878, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Turn it off , passage=If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […]. Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.}}
  • (label) To think of doing.
  • (label) To assign some quality to.
  • * (1800-1859)
  • Considered as plays, his works are absurd.
  • *
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother very rightly resented the slightest hint of condescension. She considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom,
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. […]’}}
  • (label) To look at attentively.
  • * Bible, (w) xxxi. 16
  • She considereth a field, and buyeth it.
  • (label) To take up as an example.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.}}
  • To debate or dispose of a motion.
  • To have regard to; to take into view or account; to pay due attention to; to respect.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Consider , sir, the chance of war: the day / Was yours by accident.
  • * (1628–1699)
  • England could grow into a posture of being more united at home, and more considered abroad.

    Usage notes

    * In sense 2, this is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See .

    Synonyms

    * (think about seriously) bethink, reflect on * (think of doing) think of, bethink * (assign a quality) deem, regard, think of; see also * (look at closely) regard, observe * (debate a motion) deliberate, bethink * (include in an estimate or plan) take into account

    think

    English

    Alternative forms

    * thinck (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) thinken, thynken, thenken, thenchen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • (label) To ponder, to go over in one's head.
  • :
  • *
  • *:So this was my future home, I thought ! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills,a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • (label) To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem.
  • :
  • To conceive of something or someone (usually followed by of'''; infrequently, by '''on ).
  • :
  • (label) To be of the opinion (that).
  • :
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3 , passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
  • (label) To guess; to reckon.
  • :
  • (label) To consider, judge, regard, or look upon (something) as.
  • :
  • *, chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”}}
  • To plan; to be considering; to be of a mind (to do something).
  • *Sir (Walter Scott), (Ivanhoe)
  • *:The cupbearer shrugged up his shoulders in displeasure. "I thought to have lodged him in the solere chamber," said he
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}
  • To presume; to venture.
  • *(Bible), (w) iii. 9
  • *:Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
  • Synonyms
    * (sense, communicate to oneself in one's mind) cogitate, ponder, reflect, ruminate; see also * opine; see also * guess (US), imagine, reckon, suppose * consider, deem, find, judge, regard; see also
    Derived terms
    * rethink * think about * thinker * thinko * think of * think on one's feet * think out * think over * think piece * think the world of * think twice * think up * think with one's little head * unthinkable

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • An act of thinking; consideration (of something).
  • :
  • Derived terms
    * badthink * doublethink * goodthink * groupthink * have another think coming * rethink (noun, as in "have a rethink")

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Verb

    think' (''obsolete except in archaic'' ' methinks )
  • (label) To seem, to appear.
  • *:
  • And whanne syr launcelot sawe he myghte not ryde vp in to the montayne / he there alyghte vnder an Appel tree // And then he leid hym doune to slepe / And thenne hym thoughte there came an old man afore hym / the whiche sayd A launcelot of euylle feythe and poure byleue / wherfor is thy wille tourned soo lyghtely toward thy dedely synne