out of the box thinking
1
4.4
- noun
- Jargon
:
pensamiento creativo
- In the meeting, we encouraged out of the box thinking to develop fresh ideas for our campaign.
Examples
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Her out of the box thinking led to innovative solutions that impressed the entire team.
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I don't know why I didn't use the "out of the box" thinking before.
Blog text (12) -
That's some real out-of-the-box thinking there.
Blog text (1) -
It is pretty common knowledge that the questions are intended to test creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, so one can't actually "prepare" for an exam like this.
Blog text (29) -
And frankly, this kind of out-of-the-box thinking was very much unlike my non-sentimental, romance-less, thoughtful only to the degree of getting his next meal and the possibility of sex husband.
Blog text (26) -
Don't stress that you haven't seen a Lipa crew; be very upset that you aren't being informed and that some out-of-the-box thinking and planning may have been necessary on the part of Lipa as well as state and federal government.
Blog text (26) -
The project succeeded because of his out of the box thinking when solving complex issues.
Synonyms
5
3.7
Thinking in new ways to make things or solve problems
1
4.6
A way to find new, creative ideas to solve problems
1
5.3
A way to solve problems by looking at them from new angles
1
6.4
A way to find new ideas that ignores practical limits
A way of thinking that comes up with many different ideas to solve a problem
Antonyms
How Creative
- Jargon
1
4.4
9
4.0
5
3.7
1
6.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
out + of + the + box + thinking
The literal parts ('out of the box' = outside a box + 'thinking') give a clear hint that this means thinking beyond some boundary, so a learner who knows the words can often infer a sense of unconventional or non‑standard thinking. However, the use of 'box' as a metaphor for conventional constraints is figurative and relies on a fixed idiomatic collocation, so the exact pragmatic meaning ('creative, unconventional problem‑solving') is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Out of the box thinking comes from the image of a box as a limit: to 'think inside the box' is to follow the usual rules, while out of the box thinking means stepping outside that box to find new ideas. So, it means 'to use creative and unusual ways to solve problems'.