food for thought

English

Etymology

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

food for thought (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Information or knowledge that is worthy of contemplation.
   • 2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 55:

     If I were ScotRail management, I'd be looking at the feasibility of taking some more trailer cars to make them five-car sets, and even the possibility of using them on the West Highland, Kyle and Far North lines as well (although I fear that is a cost too far, but food for thought).

Coordinate terms

• soul food

Translations

information or knowledge that is worthy of contemplation

• Azerbaijani: düşündürəcək, düşündürən
• Bulgarian: плод за размисъл n (plod za razmisǎl)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精神食糧／精神食粮 (jīngshén shíliáng), 思想食物 (sīxiǎng shíwù), (to provide food for thought) 耐人尋味／耐人寻味 (zh) (nàirénxúnwèi), (to get people thinking) 發人深思／发人深思 (fārénshēnsī)

• Danish: stof til eftertanke n
• Finnish: pohdittava
• French: matière à penser f
• German: Denkanstoß (de) m, Denkanregung f
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: elgondolkodtató (hu)
• Icelandic: umhugsunarefni n
• Italian: spunto di riflessione m
• Latvian: viela pārdomām
• Persian: غذا برای فکر (ğazâ barâye fekr)
• Portuguese: alimento para a mente m
• Romanian: hrană pentru gândire f
• Russian: пи́ща для размышле́ний (ru) (píšča dlja razmyšlénij)
• Swahili: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: tänkvärdheter, tänkvärt (sv), anledning till eftertanke
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: suy nghĩ kỹ càng về điều gì đó

See also

• grist for the mill

References

• “Food for thought”, in BBC Learning English‎^[1], BBC, 2014 September 14