train of thought
17
3.6
- noun
- /treɪn əv θɔt/
- Informal
:
hilo
- I stopped in mid-sentence, my train of thought gone, and I was embarrassed by it.
- lose their train of thought
- follow a train of thought
He lost his train of thought and slurred during key remarks.
- He lost his train of thought and slurred during key remarks.
- But anyway, I'm losing my train of thought.
- But but man, now I just lost my train of thought.
- And like I've lost my train of thought and I'm very aware that I can't get this out.
- And sorry, that's not my train of thought.
- But yes, I got some questions and excuse me, I lost my train of thought.
- And then you also want to think about, I lost my train of thought here.
- But there, there is some, I guess some issues with this train of thought.
- Elliot coughs loudly, interrupting my train of thought.
Examples
-
But also, excuse me, I just lost my train of thought there for a second.
-
And you can almost hear his train of thought as he tries to figure this out.
-
I totally lost my train of thought, right?
-
I lost my train of thought.
-
Hey, you guys are making me lose my train of thought here.
-
After a few minutes, he lost his train of thought.
Fiction book (2001) -
Also, he lost his train of thought frequently, which made focusing slightly difficult.
Academic text (2014) -
Well, I can't promise anything right now, but, uh, you have started a new train of thought in my mind.
-
But still, it frightened him and disrupted his previous train of thought.
Fiction book (1998) -
During the meeting, I lost my train of thought when someone interrupted me.
Synonyms
372
4.3
A connected set of ideas or messages that follow the same topic
43
3.7
Mental steps used to consider and solve a problem
8
4.3
A particular way of thinking about something that a person or group follows
Antonyms
How Coherent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'train' can be understood as a procession or series, and 'of thought' specifies the domain (ideas), so the meaning 'a series of connected ideas' is directly compositional from the constituents. This metaphorical use of 'train' to mean 'sequence' follows a common English pattern (a X of Y = a sequence of Y) and would be inferable by a B1 learner who knows the parts.
Etymology
The noun train of thought imagines thoughts as carriages on a train, each linked so one idea leads to the next. If the train stops or is interrupted, the link is broken, so the phrase means 'a series of connected ideas' or 'the flow of thinking'.