ruminate

verb

ru·mi·nate ˈrü-mə-ˌnāt

ruminated; ruminating

transitive verb

: to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly

: to chew repeatedly for an extended period

intransitive verb

: to chew again what has been chewed slightly and swallowed : chew the cud

: to engage in contemplation : reflect

rumination

ˌrü-mə-ˈnā-shən

noun

ruminative

ˈrü-mə-ˌnā-tiv

adjective

ruminatively adverb

ruminator

ˈrü-mə-ˌnā-tər

noun

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).

Choose the Right Synonym for ruminate

ponder, meditate, muse, ruminate mean to consider or examine attentively or deliberately.

ponder implies a careful weighing of a problem or, often, prolonged inconclusive thinking about a matter.

pondered the course of action

meditate implies a definite focusing of one's thoughts on something so as to understand it deeply.

meditated on the meaning of life

muse suggests a more or less focused daydreaming as in remembrance.

mused upon childhood joys

ruminate implies going over the same matter in one's thoughts again and again but suggests little of either purposive thinking or rapt absorption.

ruminated on past disappointments

Example Sentences

The question got us ruminating on the real value of wealth. He ruminated over the implications of their decision.

Recent Examples on the Web Under stress, the mind can ruminate and catastrophize.

Kellie Cummings, Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2022 Baltimore coach John Harbaugh must go back to his office, polish his Lombardi Trophy, and ruminate on his failures.

Doug Lesmerises, cleveland, 18 Sep. 2022 And these thoughts just started to ruminate for me like, wow, there’s just a lot of work that women go through to prevent pregnancy.

The Salt Lake Tribune, 11 July 2022 Here are a few suggestions for managers to ruminate on.

Karl Moore, Forbes, 10 June 2022 From an emphasis on meaningful collections to bathrooms with undercounter refrigerators, get ready to ruminate on these elements that designers expect to see everywhere next year.

Kelly Allen, House Beautiful, 28 Oct. 2022 Spoiler alert: plenty of art with little opportunity to sit and ruminate.

Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2022 The absence of seating encourages strolling through galleries and sliding by the art, as if on a gallery crawl or at an art fair, rather than stopping to ruminate.

Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2022 With no concert dates or deadline pressures, Keys was free to ruminate and to explore making music simply for the sake of making music.

George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Sep. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ruminate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1533, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of ruminate was in 1533

See more words from the same year