English edit

Etymology edit

un- +‎ think

Verb edit

unthink (third-person singular simple present unthinks, present participle unthinking, simple past and past participle unthought)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To undo the process of thinking.
    • 1930, G. K. Chesterton, The Resurrection of Rome:
      They at least had the immense and mighty imagination of which I speak; they could unthink the past. They could uncreate the Fall. With a reverence which moderns might think impudence, they could uncreate the Creation.
    • 1993, Henning F Harmuth, Information Theory Applied to Space-time Physics:
      But to do so consistently would require a fairly radical revision of the concept. We should have to unthink as far back as Aristotle []
    • 2006, Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, Science on Stage: From Doctor Faustus to Copenhagen:
      In An Experiment with an Air-Pump, characters repeatedly assert that "once you've thought something, you can't unthink it, can you?"
    • 2019, Margaret Atwood, The Testaments, →ISBN, page 333:
      "You must learn to edit your thoughts," she said. "Unthink them..."

See also edit