thob.
To engage in wishful thinking; to believe something regardless of evidence because it aligns with one's opinion; to rationalize.
Meaning & usage
To engage in wishful thinking; to believe something regardless of evidence because it aligns with one's opinion; to rationalize.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *teng-der. Proto-Germanic *þankijaną Proto-West Germanic *þankijan Old English þenċan Middle English thinken English thinkacronym English opinionacronym Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *laubijaną Proto-West Germanic *laubijan Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan Old English belīefan Middle English bileven English believeacronym English thob Coined by American author and schoolteacher Henshaw Ward in 1926 in his book Thobbing: A Seat at the Circus of the Intellect, as an acronym of think, opinion and believe: "When a person thinks without curiosity, has an opinion because he likes it, believes what is handy—then he THOBs."
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.