excogitate

American  

[eks-koj-i-teyt] / ɛksˈkɒdʒ ɪˌteɪt /

verb (used with object)

excogitated, excogitating

1. to think out; devise; invent.

2. to study intently and carefully in order to grasp or comprehend fully.

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excogitate British  

/ ɛksˈkɒdʒɪˌteɪt /

verb

1. to devise, invent, or contrive

2. to think out in detail

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Other Word Forms

• excogitable adjective
• excogitation noun
• excogitative adjective
• excogitator noun
• unexcogitated adjective
• unexcogitative adjective

Etymology

Origin of excogitate

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin excōgitātus, past participle of excōgitāre “to devise, invent, think out”; see ex- ¹, cogitate

Example Sentences

I wouldn't put the question to you for the world, and expose you to the inconvenience of having to—a— excogitate an answer.

From Washington Square by James, Henry

One morning he went out for a walk beyond the town limits to excogitate the final touches for some sentences that were to annihilate the infidel Frenchman.

From Casanova's Homecoming by Paul, Cedar

The following series of possibilities are curiously interesting, both from their partial subsequent realization, and from the simple credulity with which Bacon gives us that which he had known "a wise man explicitly excogitate."

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 368, June 1846 by Various

The Apostle only commanded that each action and ceremony of God's worship be decently and orderly performed, but gives us no leave to excogitate or devise new ceremonies, which have not been instituted before.

From The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) by Gillespie, George

In fact, it must require a considerable effort to excogitate novel labor-saving devices.

From By Water to the Columbian Exposition by Wisthaler, Johanna S.