cogitate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- cogitatingly adverb
- cogitation noun
- cogitator noun
- precogitate verb
Etymology
Origin of cogitate
1555–65; < Latin cōgitātus (past participle of cōgitāre ), equivalent to co- co- + agitātus; see agitate
Explanation
To cogitate is a fancy way of saying to think hard about. If you spend a lot of time figuring out exactly how your French teacher does her hair, you are cogitating in order to avoid conjugating. Cogitate can be used both transitively or intransitively, which means you can cogitate on something, like your history project or why your computer never seems to work the way you want it to. Or you can simply sit in your room and cogitate.
Vocabulary lists containing cogitate
Think Tank: Thought-Provoking Vocabulary
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A Tale of Two Cities
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This week, Emily Bazelon and David Plotz are joined by Wesley Morris, critic at large for The New York Times and co-host of the Still Processing podcast, to cogitate on Conundrums 2023.
From Slate • Dec. 28, 2023
It’s one thing to cogitate and empathize with national shame and collective culpability, but it’s another thing entirely to grow up with it, to have it tattooed on your DNA.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2023
"They will go over and over their thoughts, ruminate and cogitate sometimes for weeks and months," he says.
From BBC • Sep. 21, 2022
Dyson presents mathematical arguments that these beings can, through shrewd conservation of energy, maintain the resources needed to survive, cogitate and communicate in an eternally expanding cosmos.
From Scientific American • Jun. 16, 2021
When the resentment would come to him he would cogitate and study.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
