Dictionary

thoughty en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈθɑdi/ (US)
• /ˈθɔdi/ (US)
• /ˈθɔːti/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English thoughty, thoghty, equivalent to thought + -y. Cognate with Scots thochty, thouchty (“thoughty”), Dutch gedachtig (“thoughty”), German gedächtig (“suspicious”).

Meanings

1. (Scotland, archaic) Given to serious thought or reflection; either attentive or pensive.
   • Ditto my nightly hit of Marketplace, a thoughty economy-based show on NPR. It never hit home until Salem's wise and loving and occasionally-during-sweeps-months demon-possessed psychiatrist and her studly husband got the ax. 2011, Celia Rivenbark, You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl:
   • [...] "there was no questioning Glenn's ability. He was a very 'thoughty' guy. And he was also a very sly one — for Glenn Miller." 1980, George Thomas Simon, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra:
   • His pouch was now all void and empty, his future years were like to be sour, thoughty, and woe-begone, and himself a cumberworld, unsicker of his scarce and slender livelihood in lickpenny London, forced to beg, steal, or starve, and gaping after honest death. 1894, James Hamilton Wylie, History of England under Henry the Fourth, volume 2, pages 22–23:
   • And Abe — she remembered him from one time Mr. Lincoln brought him to town, a thoughty talky little thing that noticed everything and had a word for it. He wasn't more than ten or eleven now, but had done some remarkable growing. 2001, Richard Slotkin, Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln:
   • “Such a thoughty man! And easy on the eyes, as well! Well done, my man! You're such a doat!” She raised her cup of mead in salute. 2013, Cait Oliver, Laying the Ghost: A Return to Culloden:
   • Killing me now, for whatever reason, was going to take a lot of guts and a lot of thought, and I planned to be much gutsier and thoughtier. 2009, Lonnie Cruse, Fifty-seven heaven:
   • "Yoi, yoi, it's always the other guys," the Ganymedean snorted in disgust. "But SF is the phonetic equivalent of 'as if in Milt Gross dialect, a very thoughty parallel." 1981, Martin Harry Greenberg, Fantastic lives:
   • Prior to sampling, Mike characterized himself as a “thoughty” person, and it might have been tempting to launch an investigation of the characteristics of his thinking. 2011, Russell T. Hurlburt, Investigating Pristine Inner Experience: Moments of Truth:
   • I have been thoughty of my grandmother all week, every day actually. Thoughty is a word straight from Gramma's dictionary and is defined by an inner cognitive awareness of someone. It is more than thoughtfulness. It is a more intense character trait as it involves the spirit on a much deeper level. When I am thoughty of someone, they are not only on my mind, but in my heart, and connected to and felt by my spirit. This is what it means to be thoughty. 2007, Ma Kimberly Quinn Smith, Kimberly Quinn Smith Ma, A Full Moon Rising...and the Tao of Menopause:

Forms

Synonyms

reflective · contemplative