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Glite Dictionary
analytic thinking

analytic thinking

6.0
A way of looking at a problem by breaking it into smaller parts to see how they work together
  • noun
  • /əˈnælɪtɪk ˈθɪŋkɪŋ/
translation icon : pensamiento analítico
  • During the discussion, they practiced analytic thinking by deconstructing the arguments presented by each speaker.

Examples

  • To solve the complex puzzle, she relied heavily on analytic thinking to identify the connections between various clues.

  • In his research, analytic thinking helped him break down the experiment into manageable parts for better analysis.

  • They are authentic learning tasks that encourage analytic thinking and meaningful experience with quantitative analysis, and they foster task commitment, interdisciplinary learning, and the integration of computers and literacy.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

analysis
vsanalytic thinking
∞ 3.4

Careful study of something by breaking it into parts to understand

focuses on breaking wholes to see how parts relate to each other

Antonyms

holistic theory
  • Specialized
7.0

The idea that parts must be seen together to understand the whole

How Analytical

reflection
119 3.7
analytic thinking
6.0
intuition
127 5.5

Surface Forms

analytic thinking singular
analytic thinkings plural

Morphology

analytic + thinking

Both constituents directly contribute to the meaning: 'analytic' denotes breaking into parts or analysis and 'thinking' denotes the cognitive process, so the phrase means thinking that involves analysis. This adjective+noun composition is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern and should be immediately clear to a B1 learner who knows the two words.

Etymology

Analytic thinking comes from the image of taking a toy or machine apart to look at each piece. The word analytic means looking at the small parts and thinking is using your mind, so it means 'breaking something into parts to understand it'.