gut-check
Inner strength evaluation
A gut-check is a moment of honest self-assessment—pausing to evaluate your true feelings, motivations, or readiness before proceeding: Before accepting the job, I needed a gut-check about whether I really wanted to relocate.
The term draws on the gut as the seat of instinct.
As a verb, to gut-check is to perform such an assessment, either on yourself or by challenging someone else: The coach gut-checked the team at halftime.
Observing one's own mind
- reflectionReturned light or thought
- self-examinationScrutiny of one's thoughts
- soul-searchingProbing one's innermost feelings
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
self-awareness · reckoning · pause · reconsideration · questioning · doubt · hesitation · second-guessing
Confirming truth or accuracy
- confirmationEstablishing something as true
- reassessmentRenewed evaluation of something
- reviewCritical written assessment
- auditFormal accounts examination
vetting · second-look · proof · evidence · corroboration
Meeting of routes
- choiceAct of selecting
- deliberationCareful weighing of choices
- weighingMeasuring mass or heft
- considerationCareful thought or compensation
threshold · make-or-break · crunch-time · decisive · commitment · resolve · stakes · pressure
Unproven inner sense
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- feelingSensed inner state
- visceralArising from deep instinct
- inklingSlight, uncertain awareness
suspicion · premonition · presentiment · foreboding · impulse · innate · primal · subconscious
introspection
Observing one's own mind
- reflectionReturned light or thought
- self-examinationScrutiny of one's thoughts
- soul-searchingProbing one's innermost feelings
honesty · self-awareness · reckoning · pause · reconsideration · questioning · doubt · hesitation · second-guessing · authenticity
validation
Confirming truth or accuracy
- confirmationEstablishing something as true
- reassessmentRenewed evaluation of something
- reviewCritical written assessment
audit · vetting · second-look · proof · evidence · corroboration
crossroads
Meeting of routes
- choiceAct of selecting
- deliberationCareful weighing of choices
- weighingMeasuring mass or heft
consideration · threshold · make-or-break · crunch-time · decisive · commitment · resolve · stakes · pressure
hunch
Unproven inner sense
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
- feelingSensed inner state
- visceralArising from deep instinct
inkling · suspicion · premonition · presentiment · foreboding · impulse · innate · primal · subconscious · instinctive
gut-checkpeer review
Expert evaluation before publication
fact-check · second opinion · reality check · consensus-building · expert opinion
gut, check, guts, checks, checked, checking, checker, gutted, gutting