"Food for thought" in a word

Question

How can I express "food for thought" in a word? Does such a word exist?

Example usage:

The world will only know peace when our love for power is exceeded by our power to love. That's __ (something to think about).

Answer 1

There is an uncommon word thoughtworthy: (used as thought-worthy also)

Worthy of thought or of being thought; considerable.

[en.wiktionary.org]

Though, considerable is a more common word with a close meaning but does not seem like a good fit for your example.

Answer 2

As a native American English speaker, the first word that came to mind for me was "thought-provoking." Macmillan dictionary defines thought-provoking as follows:

Thought-provoking - adjective - interesting in a way that makes you think of new ideas or that changes your attitude to something

Answer 3

intriguing

adjective 1. arousing great interest or curiosity

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/intriguing?showCookiePolicy=true

Answer 4

I don't know if a single word exists meaning "food for thought" or "worthy of consideration"; perhaps the closest modern English has is:

noteworthy

noteable

Or, with a slightly different hue:

memorable

Answer 5

While EL&U is an English website, ancient Hebrew has just such a word. That word is selah. If such a word existed in English, you wouldn't even need to preface it by the word that's!

Selah is quite commonly used in the Jewish Scripture in the book of Psalms. Despite the obscurity of the word's origin and meaning, it would seem to mean, at least in part:

• stop, or pause

• meditate/cogitate/ruminate on what has just been said

• take the passage's message to heart

Since the Hebrew psalms, an ancient form of poetry based primarily on parallelism, not rhyme, were meant primarily to be sung, we can imagine that as the choir director in the temple led the singers in a psalm, occasionally he would indicate a pause in the music as a way of letting the words which were being sung to "sink in" to those who were listening. In Handel's Messiah, there is such a pause in the final measures of the Hallelujah Chorus.

Nowadays, public speakers, for example, will simply repeat a particularly "meaty" sentence or quotation for emphasis, although in some public gatherings, such as at a memorial service, the speaker will sometimes intone,

"Let us observe a minute of silence in memory of [fill in the blank]"

Is there an equivalent, single English word? I doubt it. There should be, in my opinion. Until someone invents one, here are a few alternatives:

• Ruminate/cogitate/meditate on that.

• That's worth pondering/considering.

• Ponder/consider that.

• Mull that over.

There is in fact a single word which I am blanking on right now. It is a word which describes the power of a quotation, or memorable words, or a theory to stimulate further thought. The word is similar in meaning to prolific, which means having the power to generate many further thoughts and ramifications of the original quotation, words, or theory. When I think of the word, I'll edit my post accordingly.

Answer 6

I was also trying to look for one... is this a possible candidate (adapted from Oxford Living Dictionaries)?

mus·ing ˈmyo͞oziNG/Submit noun plural noun: musings a period of reflection or thought. "his musings were interrupted by the sound of the telephone" synonyms: meditation, thinking, contemplation, deliberation, pondering, reflection, rumination, introspection, daydreaming, reverie, dreaming, preoccupation, brooding; formalcogitation "in my musing of late, I have decided that I need more purpose in my life"

*https://www.instagram.com/p/BAF-529sVHD/ @lux.mentor via @futuregentleman apologies

Answer 7

As a term to refer to something to think about you may use:

• Idea or Concept.

According to TheFreeDictionary.com:

concept:

• an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct.
• a directly conceived or intuited object of thought.
• a theme or image, esp. as embodied in the design or execution of something.

Consider from the same source

motivation: (the intellectual nourishment that motivates action):

• something that motivates; inducement.

• the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior;

Answer 8

Stimulus? Stimulation? A stimulant? As TheFreeDictionary.com has it:

stim·u·lus (stmy-ls) n. pl. stim·u·li (-l)

1. Something causing or regarded as causing a response.
2. An agent, action, or condition that elicits or accelerates a physiological or psychological activity or response.
3. Something that incites or rouses to action; an incentive: "Works which were in themselves poor have often proved a stimulus to the imagination" (W.H. Auden).

Answer 9

How about profound?

From Merriam-Webster:

profound: difficult to understand; requiring deep thought or wisdom

Your example:

"The world will only know peace when our love for power is exceeded by our power to love. That's profound (something to think about)."

Seems to fit perfectly.

Note: I just noticed that @EdwinAshworth mentioned profound in a comment on the question. It's a solid answer though. "Requiring deep thought or wisdom" equates to "something to think about".