Home UK English think outside the box

Meaning of think outside the box in English:

think outside the box

(also think out of the box)

phrase

informal

  • Think in an original or creative way.

    • ‘To bring in new members, we have to be willing to try innovative ideas and think outside the box.’
    • ‘Although dyslexic people have problems with reading, their brains are well suited for ideas and thinking outside the box.’
    • ‘Does the institution truly value candor, thinking outside the box and innovation, or merely give lip service to it?’
    • ‘Local authorities have been asked to think outside the box and bring forward imaginative and innovative projects.’
    • ‘Now, the fashion-savvy girl wants her clothes to be unplaceable rather than directional: she wants the credit for having the imagination to think outside the box.’
    • ‘Surely this is a time for a new ethos of leadership and people who think outside the box and foster creativity.’
    • ‘As a pioneer used to thinking outside the box, Odent demonstrates familiarity with a formidable range of subjects, from ethnography to endocrinology.’
    • ‘He says he wants to encourage Vincentian youths to think outside the box and become pioneers.’
    • ‘We wondered whether thinking outside the box really does enhance creativity.’
    • ‘A final thought… where would civilisation be now if it were not for the ‘intellectuals’; those individuals who thought outside the box, dared to challenge the norm?’