English Reference
Idiom idiom

leap to mind


To appear suddenly in one's thoughts.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

Several good ideas leap to mind when I think about this project.

CONTEXTUAL

When the teacher asked for a volunteer, no names seemed to leap to mind among the quiet students.

COMPLEX

As she searched for the perfect word to describe the tragedy, a haunting phrase suddenly leaped to mind.


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bear in mind

    To hold (something) in the memory; to remember; also, to be mindful of or pay attention to (something); to consider; to note.

  2. 02

    blow someone's mind

    To astonish someone; to flabbergast someone.

  3. 03

    bored out of one's mind

    Extremely bored.

  4. 04

    cast one's mind back

    To try to remember a particular time or event; to think about something in the past.

  5. 05

    change one's mind

    To decide differently than one had decided before.

  6. 06

    change someone's mind

    To convince someone to make a choice or develop a preference differing from their previous one.

  7. 07

    close one's mind

    To refuse to understand things.

  8. 08

    come to mind

    To appear in one's thoughts.

Last updated August 10, 2026