ruminate
verb
transitive verb
intransitive verb
Did you know?
When you ruminate, you chew something over, either literally or figuratively. Literal rumination may seem a little gross to humans, but to cows, chewing your cud (that's partially digested food brought up from the stomach for another chew) is just a natural part of life. Figurative ruminating is much more palatable to humans; that kind of deep, meditative thought is often deemed quite a worthy activity. The verb ruminate has described metaphorical chewing over since the early 1500s and actual chewing since later that same century. Our English word derives from and shares the meanings of the Latin ruminari, which in turn derives from rumen, the Latin name for the first stomach compartment of ruminant animals (that is, creatures like cows that chew their cud).
Synonyms
- chew over
- cogitate
- consider
- contemplate
- debate
- deliberate
- entertain
- eye
- kick around
- meditate
- mull (over)
- perpend
- ponder
- pore (over)
- question
- revolve
- study
- think (about or over)
- turn
- weigh
- wrestle (with)
Example Sentences
Nuala Walsh, Forbes, 17 June 2022 As always when Apple announces new products, there is much to ruminate over from an accessibility point of view. Steven Aquino, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2021 This brain activation may explain why dumpees will often ruminate about their exes and try to find ways to reinstate contact against all odds. Suzy Katz, SELF, 12 May 2022 Nobody is moved to ruminate on the rights and wrongs of the situation. The New Yorker, 6 May 2022 Snyder, asked to ruminate on some specifics about what went wrong, had an embarrassment of options to choose from. Eric Walden, The Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Mar. 2022 Rather than ruminate on defeat, Sundquist instead cultivated a laser focus on the positive rewards, a recurring theme in his story. Bruce Tulgan, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2022 The show is spread out over the campus’s two galleries and includes a salon-style hang of paintings, drawings and found photographic images that ruminate on her family’s migration from Cali, Colombia, to Cali — as in: SoCal. Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2022 Being alone gives me time to ruminate and talk to myself and helps my self-awareness. Heran Mamo, Billboard, 18 Mar. 2022 See More Word History
Latin ruminatus, past participle of ruminari to chew the cud, muse upon, from rumin-, rumen rumen; perhaps akin to Sanskrit romantha act of chewing the cud
1533, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Kids Definition
ruminate
verb
Medical Definition
ruminate
intransitive verb
ruminating
verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- pondering
- contemplating
- debating
- studying
- considering
- entertaining
- questioning
- weighing
- cogitating
- exploring
- analyzing
- deliberating
- reviewing
- eyeing
- meditating
- eying
- revolving
- looking at
- digesting
- chewing on
- chewing over
- perpending
- turning
- reminiscing
- kicking around
- reasoning
- mulling (over)
- thinking (about or over)
- beating one's brains out (about)
- wrestling (with)
- opining
- cudgeling one's brains (about)
- poring (over)
- believing
- concluding
- absorbing
- conceiving
- assimilating
- second-guessing
- reflecting (on or upon)
- musing (upon)
- speculating (about)
- fixating (on or upon)
- brooding (about or over)
- dwelling (on or upon)
- obsessing (about or over)
- fretting (about or over)
- drinking (in)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- ignoring
- disregarding
- overlooking
- dismissing
- rejecting
- slighting
- poohing
- pooh-poohing