outthink
verb
out·think
ˌau̇t-ˈthiŋk 
outthought
ˌau̇t-ˈthȯt
; outthinking
; outthinking
1
: to outdo or surpass in thinking : to go beyond or transcend by thinking
Thus does a candidate who is certainly capable of equalling or outthinking his competitors on the issues find himself fighting a shadow war against himself.—
E. J. Dionne, Jr.
E. J. Dionne, Jr.2
: to get the better of by thinking more quickly or adroitly than : outwit
All trying to buy low, to sell high, now to outthink the other fellow, now to collude with them, to defraud a third party.—David Mamet
David MametExamples of outthink in a Sentence
the company's growth is due in large part to its marketing division's ability to outthink the competition
Recent Examples on the Web
Altman, always the AI optimist, has previously touted AI’s potential to someday outthink humans, but the technology’s past three years of progress since OpenAI kicked off the AI arms race with ChatGPT’s release have shown him this moment could come sooner rather than later.
—Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 26 Sep. 2025
Geoff Hinton, one of the most influential voices in artificial intelligence, warned that humanity is running out of time to prepare for machines that outthink us.
—Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
And if this isn’t an isolated incident, then this presents a huge problem for the remnants of humanity, most of whom have survived through a mixture of luck and simply being able to outthink these single-minded creatures.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 13 Apr. 2025
Perhaps the shape rotators are convinced that computers can outthink us because their own minds are so impoverished.
—Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 26 June 2024
What the talent evaluators of the Carolina Panthers saw this draft cycle was an undersized quarterback from the University of Alabama whose ability to outthink defenses outweighed his physical limitations.
—Joseph Goodman | [email protected], al, 28 Apr. 2023
By June, however, Space Force and its Combatant Command, U.S. Space Command, were recruiting tech-smart people; coordinating with international allies; deciding which technologies to buy; and running war-game simulations in which teams attack, counterattack and outthink one another.
—Ann Finkbeiner, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2020
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Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune, 26 Sep. 2025
Geoff Hinton, one of the most influential voices in artificial intelligence, warned that humanity is running out of time to prepare for machines that outthink us.
—Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
And if this isn’t an isolated incident, then this presents a huge problem for the remnants of humanity, most of whom have survived through a mixture of luck and simply being able to outthink these single-minded creatures.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 13 Apr. 2025
Perhaps the shape rotators are convinced that computers can outthink us because their own minds are so impoverished.
—Becca Rothfeld, Washington Post, 26 June 2024
What the talent evaluators of the Carolina Panthers saw this draft cycle was an undersized quarterback from the University of Alabama whose ability to outthink defenses outweighed his physical limitations.
—Joseph Goodman | [email protected], al, 28 Apr. 2023
By June, however, Space Force and its Combatant Command, U.S. Space Command, were recruiting tech-smart people; coordinating with international allies; deciding which technologies to buy; and running war-game simulations in which teams attack, counterattack and outthink one another.
—Ann Finkbeiner, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Outthink.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outthink. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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