Dictionary

unthink en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- Proto-Indo-European *teng-der. Proto-Germanic *þankijaną Proto-West Germanic *þankijan Old English þenċan Middle English thinken English think English unthink From un- + think.

Meanings

1. (intransitive, transitive) To undo the process of thinking.
   • They at least had the immense and mighty imagination of which I speak; they could unthink the past. They could uncreate the Fall. With a reverence which moderns might think impudence, they could uncreate the Creation. 1930, G. K. Chesterton, The Resurrection of Rome:
   • "You must learn to edit your thoughts," she said. "Unthink them..." 2019, Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, →ISBN, page 333:
   • But to do so consistently would require a fairly radical revision of the concept. We should have to unthink as far back as Aristotle […] 1993, Henning F Harmuth, Information Theory Applied to Space-time Physics:
   • In An Experiment with an Air-Pump, characters repeatedly assert that "once you've thought something, you can't unthink it, can you?" 2006, Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, Science on Stage: From Doctor Faustus to Copenhagen:

Forms

Relateds

unring