lateral thinking

English

Etymology

Coined by Edward de Bono in 1967.

Noun

lateral thinking (uncountable)

1. Using reasoned thought in a non-standard, or non-linear 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: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: pensamiento lateral m
• Swedish: lateralt tänkande

See also

• creative thinking
• 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.