thoughtful
adjective
Simple meaning
Demonstrating kindness or consideration for others.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
thawtfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈθɔtfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Demonstrating kindness or consideration for others.
Exhibiting or characterized by careful thought
Demonstrating thought or careful consideration.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Demonstrating kindness or consideration for others.
Used this way, thoughtful is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Kind and considerate
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use thoughtful
- “It was very thoughtful of you to bring me flowers.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Exhibiting / demonstrating
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: demonstrating kindness or consideration for others
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.