ruminate

CEFRC1

/ˈɹumɪneɪt/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To think deeply and repeatedly about something.
02
verb
To chew food again after bringing it back from the stomach.

Examples

A camel will ruminate just as a cow will.
He sat quietly, allowing himself to ruminate on the decision.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

Also pronounced

/ˈɹuːmɪnət/
/ˈɹumənət/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

To meditate or reflect.
To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.
To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.

More examples

In context

I didn't answer right away because I needed to ruminate first.
Why do cows ruminate?
a ruminate endosperm

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She needed some quiet time to blank on the difficult decision she must make.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

There is surely some point beyond which the acquisition of other men’s thoughts must not be carried. This we say for the sake of those helluones librorum, who read forever and without stint; browsing as diligently as oxen in the green herbage of rich meads, but, unlike these, never lying down to ruminate. Life is too short, Art is too long, for a human mind to make perpetual accretion of book-learning, without halt. Sufflaminandum est.
1861, James W[addell] Alexander, “Remarks on the Studies and Discipline of the Preacher”, in S. D. A[lexander], editor, Thoughts on Preaching: Being Contributions to Homiletics, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner, […], →OCLC, page 181
Yet do thou cherish thy Partner, whilst her innocent Eyes are gazing on the Green Garment, that covereth the Surface of her Illapidable Virginity, ruminating upon the Departure of her nearest and dearest Friend [...] In that Day, thee wilt see with the Eye of Flesh; but if thee pursues it farther, to know whether she be Lapidable, or not, thee art certainly a Tyrant: For the Hammer of thy Loins, will at length beat down the Fortress of her Porto Bello; and the Pillars of her Tabernace will be spread abroad, until thee hast plundered the City, and taken the Precious Stones away.
1744, James Carson, Jemmy Carson’s collections: being a revival of his own labours and lucubrations, for thirty years past; with pieces upon different subjects, by several hands, Dublin
In the present case, therefore, it now comes closer and closer, in thought, to the first finite; but before taking hold of it, and determining to explore it, the mind proposes, and ruminates, certain middle questions, touching the actual existence of a nexus, and the possibility there is, of discovering the nature, and quality of the nexus, which subsists between the cause, and the causate, or between the infinite, and the first finite.
1848, Emanuel Swedenborg, The Philosophy of the Infinite; Outlines on a philosophical argument on the Infinite
All its sweetness, its wild purity, its slow, sorrowful strength, and its sudden overtripping, overmastering joy , drifted out upon the sunshine of the meadow, the varied phrases coming turn and turn about with long intervening silences, as though the singer ruminated on all the beauty before her, and unconsciously sang her thoughts aloud.
1912, Tickner Edwardes, Neighbourhood: A Year's Life in and about an English Village, page 135
Meanwhile, the MoT had itself also been ruminating on options for the northern half of the route.
2020 April 8, David Clough, “How the West Coast wiring war was won”, in Rail, page 59

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Origin

verb

First attested in 1533; borrowed from Latin rūminātus, perfect active participle of rūminor (“to chew the cud, turn over in the mind”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from rūmen (“the throat, gullet”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), itself of uncertain origin.

Deep Dive

verb

More examples

Quick test

She needed some quiet time to blank— on the difficult decision she must make.

Nearby

Origin

verb

She needed some quiet time to blank on the difficult decision she must make.