meditate

verb med·i·tate \ ˈme-də-ˌtāt \

|Updated on: 14 Jun 2018

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Examples: meditate in a Sentence

Definition of meditate

meditated; meditating

intransitive verb

1 : to engage in contemplation or reflection

He meditated long and hard before announcing his decision.

2 : to engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness

transitive verb

1 : to focus one's thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over

He was meditating his past achievements.

2 : to plan or project in the mind : intend, purpose

He was meditating revenge.

—

meditator

play \-ˌtā-tər\ noun

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Examples of meditate in a Sentence

He meditates for an hour every morning.
I've been meditating a career change for months.

Recent Examples of meditate from the Web

Some people like to meditate before bed; others might write in a journal, listen to a podcast, or read a good book.

— nina bahadur, SELF, "I Practiced Perfect Sleep Hygiene for a Week and Here's What Happened," 8 June 2018
To finish, the group lowered their eyes to meditate.

— sam kestenbaum, New York Times, "A Forgotten Religion Gets a Second Chance in Brooklyn," 7 June 2018
Gloria Fanning just wanted to experience flotation pods — the trend where people submerge themselves in tanks filled with warm, salty water to meditate or relieve stress.

— anna m. tinsley, star-telegram, "A 71-year-old woman stopped breathing in a watery pod. Now, a lawmaker seeks changes," 5 June 2018
Every evening the residents of the city assemble at the pagoda to meditate and pay their respects to the Buddha.

— antonia neubauer, Town & Country, "How to Plan a Trip to Asia," 5 Oct. 2016
Since as early as the 15th century, women artists across different mediums used self-portraits as a way to meditate on the world around them and their places within it.

— National Geographic, "These Famous Women Artists Changed the World With Their Self-Portraits," 24 May 2018
Santos asked those who already had a copy to meditate on their best possible selves, instead of worrying about grades.

— susan svrluga, Washington Post, "Less cramming. More Frisbee. At Yale, students learn how to live the good life," 12 May 2018
Crown Point's 10-acre Certified Organic farm, woodlands, meadows, and wetland-pond ecosystem provide unique, sacred spaces to walk, to meditate and to be inspired by creation.

— shirley macfarland, cleveland.com, "Find rare and unusual plants at Crown Point's Organic Plant Sale: Talk of the Towns," 3 May 2018
Jen Hart posted on social media this photo of her children appearing to meditate at the foot of Oregon's scenic Painted Hills.

— OregonLive.com, "Hart children's tiny bodies telegraphed warning that went unheeded by Oregon officials," 5 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'meditate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of meditate

Latin meditatus, past participle of meditari, frequentative of medēri to remedy — more at medical

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1560

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

meditate Synonyms

Synonyms

chew over, cogitate, consider, contemplate, debate, deliberate, entertain, eye, kick around, mull (over), perpend, ponder, pore (over), question, revolve, ruminate, study, think (about or over), turn, weigh, wrestle (with);

Near Antonyms

disregard, ignore, overlook, slight;

dismiss, pooh-pooh (also pooh), reject;

analyze, explore, review;

conclude, reason;

second-guess, speculate (about);

brood (about or over), dwell (on or upon), fixate (on or upon), fret (about or over), obsess (about or over);

believe, conceive, opine;

absorb, assimilate, digest, drink (in);

Phrases

beat one's brains out (about), chew on, cudgel one's brains (about), look at;

Synonym Discussion of meditate

ponder, meditate, muse, ruminate mean to consider or examine attentively or deliberately. ponder implies a careful weighing of a problem or, often, prolonged inconclusive thinking about a matter.