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train of thought

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train of thought

One's uninterrupted progression of thinking. When the phone rang, it derailed my train of thought—I totally forget what I was talking about! Please don't interrupt my train of thought when I'm writing.

See also: of, thought, train

someone's train of thought

Fig. someone's pattern of thinking or sequence of ideas; what one was just thinking about. (See also .) My train of thought is probably not as clear as it should be. I cannot seem to follow your train of thought on this matter. Will you explain it a little more carefully, please?

See also: of, thought, train

train of thought

A succession of connected ideas, a path of reasoning, as in You've interrupted my train of thought; now what was I saying? This idiom, which uses train in the sense of "an orderly sequence," was first recorded in 1651, in philosopher Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan.

See also: of, thought, train