Word.ws English Dictionary

magic thinking

magic thinking is the alternative form of magical thinking.

Meaning of magical thinking

Noun

magical thinking (uncountable)

  1. The attribution of causal or synchronistic relationships between actions and events which seemingly cannot be justified by reason and observation.
    • But, at first, by mere magical thinking […] Omens are gradually separated from ordinary probable signs […] as necessary infallible signs (or tendencies) if cunning can find them out, connected by some supernatural law with the unknown future that certainly awaits us, and as a kind of Magic.1920, Carveth Read, The Origin of Man and of his Superstitions

Questions about magic thinking

What is magic thinking the alternative form of?
Magic thinking is the alternative form of magical thinking.

Words near magic thinking in the dictionary

  1. magic strings
  2. magic sugar
  3. magic sword
  4. magic swords
  5. MAGIC syndrome
  6. magic thinking
  7. magic touch
  8. magic touches
  9. magic trick
  10. magic tricks
  11. magic truffle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: magic thinking (page history and authors); magical thinking (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “magic thinking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/magic_thinking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.