think widely vs think thoroughly

Both phrases are correct, but they have different meanings and contexts. 'Think widely' means to consider a broad range of ideas or perspectives, while 'think thoroughly' means to think deeply and carefully about something. The choice between them depends on whether you want to emphasize breadth or depth in your thinking.

Last updated: April 01, 2024 • 2680 views

think widely

This phrase is correct and means to consider a broad range of ideas or perspectives.

You can use 'think widely' when you want to encourage someone to consider a variety of viewpoints or possibilities.

Examples:

When making a decision, it's important to think widely before coming to a conclusion.
To solve complex problems, it's helpful to think widely and explore different solutions.
She always encourages her students to think widely and not limit themselves to one perspective.

Show examples from the web [+]

I also want to thank you for the speech you have made. I think it was widely appreciated in this Assembly.
(I'm not a designer but I think this is widely true of design work as in writing).
These developments, combined with falling consumption, changing lifestyles and increasing imports from third countries, have forced changes upon us. I think this is widely accepted.
I think that it is widely accepted that, since the new management took over, improvements in the running of' CEPOL have been evident.
One would think that such a widely known man, Charles Darwin would be distinctive to their intelligence and skills during their schooling, but the truth is another.
The reality is, ladies and gentlemen, that this report invites us to think much more widely about the quality of our customs system, our financial circuits and, more generally, about the protection of the financial interests of the European Union.
That said, I think that this optimism should be considerably tempered, first in the United States, where shale gas is indeed widely used.
Nonetheless, information is important in the food sector and will, we think, help make the use of genetic engineering more widely accepted.
The Ombudsman's interactive handbook is a creative solution that assists citizens in finding the proper institution for their complaint and I think it could be used more widely.
I think the current Commissioner will also have had a hard time of it, given that the responsibility was spread so widely.
That was the case for Korea, I think, where the programme was reviewed in order to integrate that aspect more widely.
In view of the natural disasters that have devastated some countries recently, do you think that these techniques should be used more widely? Explain your answer.
You would think they want money... but not with how horribly difficult it is to find most "Widely Released" items, no matter what country you're in.
The problem has become so prevalent that Nigerians in Britain are in danger of being widely seen as corrupt, the study from the Chatham House think-tank added.
We are the most widely read feminist publication ever, and I tell you this because I think it's really important to see that there's a continuum.
A few Member States think that Council alone should decide the whole plan, but that view is not widely supported, not even by the Council's legal service.
We also need to think about effective crowdsourcing mechanisms, to fact-check widely spread online information, and reward people who take part in that.
Given the importance of this issue, does the Commission think it should take prompt action to ensure that these particular containers are used as widely as possible, while also guaranteeing the necessary recycling?
However there is, I think, another dimension to the problem, which we must not ignore: Albania is trying to find its way following elections which were widely accepted and declared as such by the international community.
As PDFs are so widely used and shared in business, most people wouldn't think twice of clicking on them, making it imperative that corporations keep their security patches and anti-malware defences up-to-date.

Alternatives:

consider a broad range of ideas
think broadly
explore various perspectives
consider multiple viewpoints
think expansively

think thoroughly

This phrase is correct and means to think deeply and carefully about something.

You can use 'think thoroughly' when you want to emphasize the need for careful consideration and analysis.