English Dictionary

MEDITATE

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does meditate mean? 

MEDITATE (verb)
  The verb MEDITATE has 2 senses:

1. reflect deeply on a subjectplay

2. think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposesplay

  Familiarity information: MEDITATE used as a verb is rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


MEDITATE (verb)

 Conjugation: 
Present simple: I / you / we / they meditate  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation ... he / she / it meditates  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past simple: meditated  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Past participle: meditated  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
-ing form: meditating  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Reflect deeply on a subject

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

chew over; contemplate; excogitate; meditate; mull; mull over; muse; ponder; reflect; ruminate; speculate; think over

Context example:

The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate

Hypernyms (to "meditate" is one way to...):

cerebrate; cogitate; think (use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "meditate"):

premeditate (think or reflect beforehand or in advance)

theologise; theologize (make theoretical speculations about theology or discuss theological subjects)

introspect (reflect on one's own thoughts and feelings)

bethink (consider or ponder something carefully)

cogitate (consider carefully and deeply; reflect upon; turn over in one's mind)

question; wonder (place in doubt or express doubtful speculation)

puzzle (be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide)

consider; study (give careful consideration to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

meditation (continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature)

meditative (deeply or seriously thoughtful)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

contemplate; meditate; study

Context example:

He is meditating in his study

Hypernyms (to "meditate" is one way to...):

cerebrate; cogitate; think (use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

meditation (continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature)

meditation ((religion) contemplation of spiritual matters (usually on religious or philosophical subjects))

meditative (deeply or seriously thoughtful)


 Context examples 


After this speech the two girls sat many minutes silent, each thoughtful: Fanny meditating on the different sorts of friendship in the world, Mary on something of less philosophic tendency.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

So I thought at the time; but, ah me, little I knew him or knew that even then, perhaps, he was meditating an outbreak more terrible than any I had seen.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Thorpe talked to his horse, and she meditated, by turns, on broken promises and broken arches, phaetons and false hangings, Tilneys and trap-doors.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

As I was meditating on this discovery, a little girl, followed by her attendant, came running up the lawn.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Emma's eyes were instantly withdrawn; and she sat silently meditating, in a fixed attitude, for a few minutes.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He smiled to himself and meditated.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I broke from the house angry and disturbed and retired to meditate on some other mode of action.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Participants who meditated during naloxone administration also had significantly greater reductions in pain intensity and unpleasantness than the control groups.

(Scientists discover non-opioid pain pathway in the brain, NIH)

When he gave his promise to his father, he meditated within himself to increase the fortunes of his sisters by the present of a thousand pounds a-piece.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Loose lips sink ships." (English proverb)

"The rain falls on the just and the unjust." (Native American proverb, Hopi)

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." (Armenian proverb)

"A fortune-teller would never be unhappy." (Corsican proverb)



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