ruminate
verb
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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
Examples of ruminate in a Sentence
Annalise Frank, Axios, 31 Oct. 2024
The idea of home resonated even more throughout the pandemic, as the curatorial team invited contributors with vastly different practices to ruminate on this year’s theme.
—Jacoba Urist, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Nov. 2024
Together, the films aimed to capture a modern child’s perspective, with untrained leads and fairy-tale logic, but ended up weighted down by liberal worldliness and anxieties: Wild Things ruminated on mental health, Beasts on climate change.
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 20 Aug. 2024
Seated next to her longtime makeup artist and fellow New York icon, Miss Guy (who also did her glam for the campaign), Harry ruminated on what makes a good dinner party these days.
—Freya Drohan, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near ruminate
Cite this Entry
“Ruminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruminate. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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ruminate
verb
Medical Definition
ruminate
intransitive verb
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