great minds think alike
- idiom
- Informal
:
los grandes pensamientos piensan igual
- When they proposed the same solution, Emma said with a smile, 'great minds think alike.'
Examples
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We both reached for the last cookie at the same time—great minds think alike!
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You suggested pizza for dinner, and so did I—great minds think alike.
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Don't you think 'great minds think alike!'?
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When we both suggested the same movie, I said, 'great minds think alike!'
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When both Emily and I suggested the same solution, I smiled and said, 'Great minds think alike!'
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After we both ordered the same dish at the restaurant, he joked, 'Great minds think alike!'
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When our ideas for the project matched perfectly, she exclaimed, 'Great minds think alike!'
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning — that intelligent people often have the same ideas — is directly derivable from the parts: 'great minds' (intelligent thinkers) + 'think alike' (think in a similar way). This is a straightforward compositional proverb-like statement that follows normal English semantics and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will likely understand it.
Etymology
The saying great minds think alike may come from a simple, playful picture: two clever people having the same idea at the same time, like two light bulbs switching on together. So people use it as a friendly joke to say 'intelligent people often have the same ideas'.
