Collocations for thought - noun

comforting, good, happy, pleasant, positive
It was a comforting thought that at least her father hadn''t suffered. | Before going on stage, I breathe deeply and think positive thoughts.

anxious, appalling, awful, bad, black, dark, depressing, disquieting, disturbing, gloomy, negative, sad, sobering, terrible
A disturbing thought suddenly struck me.

interesting, intriguing | first, immediate, initial
My immediate thought was that he must be joking.

sudden | little | fleeting, passing | conscious | unspoken | waking
She occupied all his waking thoughts.

have, think
I''ve just had a thought (= an idea). | He remained aloof, thinking his own thoughts.

have
Let me have your thoughts on the report.

express, write down | read
She often seems to know what I''m thinking, as though she can read my thoughts.

dread, not be able to bear, not like, not relish
She said she couldn''t bear the thought of living alone in the house. | I don''t like the thought of you walking home alone.

come/pop into your mind, come to sb, cross your mind, go/flash/pass/race through your mind, hit sb, occur to sb, strike sb
The thought crossed my mind that Jim might know the answer. | All kinds of thoughts raced through my mind.

~s turn to sth
My thoughts turned to home.

~ about
He lay there thinking gloomy thoughts about life and death.

~ of
The children were overjoyed at the thought of going to the seaside on holiday.

~ on
They asked him what his thoughts were on the government''s announcement.

just a thought
Would Mark be able to help? It''s just a thought.

keep your thoughts to yourself
He''s not the kind of man to keep his thoughts to himself.

the mere/very thought of sth
The mere thought of lice makes my head itch.

push/put the thought aside/away, push the thought from/out of your mind

careful, proper | deep, profound
She is known for her deep thought and intellectual ways.

coherent
He was so upset, he was incapable of coherent thought.

logical, rational | analytical, critical | abstract | creative | free, independent | conscious
My job is so repetitive, it does not require much conscious thought.

fresh
We have to give the matter fresh thought.

second
I accepted the offer without a second thought.

give sb/sth, spare (sb)
I''ve given the matter careful thought. | Don''t give it another thought (= to tell sb not to worry after they have said they are sorry). | Spare a thought for us - we''ll be working through the night to finish the report.

direct, turn
I tried to turn my thoughts to pleasanter things.

provoke
The article was intended to provoke thought.

be deep in, be lost in
She was deep in thought and didn''t hear me call her.

go into sth
Not enough thought has gone into this essay.

pattern, process
I couldn''t see what thought processes led him to that conclusion.

without ~
They had acted rashly, without thought.

after a moment''s thought
After a moment''s thought, I accepted his offer.

freedom of thought
The constitution guarantees freedom of thought and belief.

a line/mode/train of thought
That line of thought can only lead to one conclusion. | He hesitated, as though he had lost his train of thought.

thought-provoking
There was a thought-provoking article about poverty in the paper.

with no thought for sth
He ran into the burning house with no thought for his own life.

modern | 19th-century, etc. | Eastern, Western | intellectual, philosophical, scientific | economic, political | feminist, liberal, socialist, etc.

a school of thought
They belong to different schools of thought.

a strand of thought
three different strands of scientific thought

kind, kindly, nice
Thank you for the flowers - it was a very kind thought.