to think straight
38
3.5
- phrasal verb
:
pensar con claridad
- During the exam, I had to take a deep breath to help me think straight and focus on the questions.
It's sort of the sense of not being able to think straight or think well or think sharply.
- It's sort of the sense of not being able to think straight or think well or think sharply.
- I feel like I've done this take now four times because my brain is so foggy and I can't think straight.
- The blood cuts off from your man's prefrontal cortex, so now he can't think straight.
- Like this is free speech is the mechanism by which the big brain can think, can think for itself, can can think straight, can see straight.
- But if the, if the emotional circuits are out of balance because of early stress, then it's hard for us to even think straight, right?
- He could still think straight, but but all of your spatial recognition, all of your object recognition stuff was failing.
- The fact that by the time I was able to get up and think straight and ask where's my son, where Ruben?
- My initial reaction is gay, but I think straight if I think about it, they're just also, I mean, yeah, flamingos.
Examples
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I wasn't thinking straight.
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He got so worked up, he wasn't thinking straight.
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It's sort of this sense of not being able to think straight or think well or think sharply.
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I get tired and I can't think straight, at least not when I get tired.
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I can't think straight when you drive like this.
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"I have so many questions, but I just can't think straight."
Fiction book (1991) -
But I wasn't exactly thinking straight myself, right then.
Fiction book (2002) -
Do you know what, I'm really tired, and I'm not really thinking straight, so I'm gonna go to bed.
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You think that I'm losing my mind, that I can't think straight.
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I didn't sleep much and I'm not thinking straight.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
34
3.4
Able to use your mind without confusion to make good decisions
11
6.7
Think clearly when you are tired or upset
6
7.0
To calm your mind and think clearly
4
3.9
To understand a situation well without being confused
1
3.9
To stop thinking about upsetting or confusing thoughts to feel calmer
To make your ideas clear and organized after feeling confused
How Clear
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to think clearly and logically' is directly derivable from combining 'think' (engage mental processes) with 'straight' used adverbially to mean 'directly/clearly' or 'in a straightforward manner'. This verb + adverb composition follows a common English pattern and is likely understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Think straight gives a simple image: the word think and the word straight show thoughts moving in a straight line, not twisted or mixed up. So when someone says it, they mean 'to think clearly and logically'.