chin stroking
Pensive facial touching
Chin stroking is the gesture of rubbing one's chin while thinking, or more often, behavior that mimics deep thought without substance.
The term is usually dismissive, suggesting pretentious intellectualism or excessive deliberation: The meeting devolved into chin stroking about mission statements.
Someone engaged in chin stroking appears thoughtful but produces nothing useful.
- thoughtfulShowing careful consideration
- ponderingThinking deeply about something
- lost in thoughtDeeply mentally preoccupied
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- beardFacial hair growth
deep in thought · pensive · musing · furrowed brow · deliberation · philosopher · wise · wise old man · rubbing · gesture · body language · thinking · reflective · goatee · scratching · deep thought · considering · intellectual
- fidgetingfidgeting, fidget, tapping, fiddle, finger tapping
chin strokingsnap judgment
Rapid evaluation without deliberation
knee-jerk reaction · gut instinct · shooting from the hip · impulsiveness · rashness
chin strokingrolling up one's sleeves
Preparing for effort
getting one's hands dirty · cutting to the chase · straight talk · head scratching
chin strokingdecisive action
Firm choice, promptly executed
taking the plunge · pulling the trigger · doing · execution · implementation
chin, chins, chinned, chinning, stroke, strokes, stroked, stroking, stroker