contemplate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To think carefully about doing something as a possibility.

   I contemplated leaving school and taking a full-time job.

2. 2
   verb

   To think deeply and at length about something.

   She sat by the window, contemplating the meaning of her dream.

3. 3
   verb

   To look at something thoughtfully for a long time.

   He stood on the cliff, contemplating the vast ocean below.

First attested in the 1590s; borrowed from Latin contemplātus, the perfect active participle of contemplor (“to observe, survey, gaze (at), contemplate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). See also template.

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