internal dialogue
Thinking to yourself
Internal dialogue is the voice in your head—the running stream of thoughts, self-talk, and mental conversation you have with yourself.
It's how you reason through problems, rehearse conversations, or argue with yourself about decisions: My internal dialogue was screaming at me to leave.
Writers use the term for characters' unspoken thoughts rendered on the page.
- inner voiceUnspoken mental dialogue
- inner monologueUnspoken personal narration
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
- reflectionReturned light or thought
- self-soothingCalming oneself independently
introspection · inner world · inner critic · thoughts · private thoughts · reasoning · metacognition · self-talk · running commentary · self-perception · self-awareness · subvocalization · stream of consciousness · emotional processing · self-questioning · self-monitoring · imagination · narrator
- inner thoughtsinner monologue, inner voice, self-talk, thoughts, thinking
- inner voiceinner monologue, self-talk, thoughts, mental chatter, inner critic
- personal writingdiary, journal, autobiographical essay, memoir, memoirs
- speechesspeech, addresses, historic speeches, lecture, soliloquy
- monologuessoliloquy, dramatic monologue, interior monologue, character voice, spoken word
internal dialoguespoken word
Poetry delivered aloud
speech · verbal expression · vocalization · utterance · spoken words
internal dialogueconversation
Exchange of spoken ideas
group discussion · discussion · exchange · two-way communication · verbal interaction