lateral thinking

English

Etymology

Coined by Edward de Bono in 1967.

Noun

lateral thinking (uncountable)

1. The use of reasoned thought in a nonstandard, or nonlinear logical way to find a solution to a problem.

Translations

lateral thinking

Chinese: Mandarin: 橫向思維 / 横向思维 (héngxiàng sīwéi), 水平思考 (shuǐpíng sīkǎo) Finnish: lateraalinen ajattelu French: pensée latérale f German: Querdenken n Japanese: 水平思考 (すいへいしこう, suihei shikō) Korean: please add this translation if you can Polish: myślenie latneralne n Portuguese: pensamento lateral m Romanian: gândire laterală (ro) f Russian: латеральное мышление (lateralʹnoje myšlenije) Spanish: pensamiento lateral (es) m Swedish: lateralt tänkande

See also

• divergent thinking
• think outside the box

Further reading

• lateral thinking on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “lateral thinking”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “lateral thinking”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.