meditate

verb med·i·tate \ ˈme-də-ˌtāt \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of meditate

meditated; meditating

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.

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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

The Bhagwan’s followers wore similar clothing, meditated and underwent sessions involving screaming and shaking, and advocated free love and expression.

— paige cornwell, The Seattle Times, "‘Sex kits’ and assault weapons: how The Seattle Times covered Rajneeshees, cult in Netflix’s ‘Wild Wild Country’," 23 Mar. 2018
But there’s not much to meditate on, much less sing along with.

— spencer kornhaber, The Atlantic, "The Zanily Aging Rock Stars of the Aughts," 2 Apr. 2018
Does someone have to meditate a lot for meditation to work?

— alex postman, Condé Nast Traveler, "A Mother and Son Search for Zen in Kyoto," 29 Mar. 2018
Siripipat began waking up before 5 a.m. to chronicle her efforts in a journal, meditate, eat breakfast and workout.

— kellen becoats, SI.com, "Break Point: How Former Sportscenter Anchor Prim Siripipat Found Balance After ESPN," 26 Mar. 2018
Funnyman Jim Carrey is actually a really deep dude who meditates and paints.

— stephen a. crockett jr., The Root, "Jim Carrey Captures Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Inner Demon in Portrait and the ‘MAGA’ Crowd Isn’t Happy," 19 Mar. 2018
This class is geared towards young people who are interested in learning to meditate and discuss solutions to practical problems faced at school and home.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The East Hartford Edition," 20 Mar. 2018
Through the prism of a high school basketball team, Shot in the Dark meditates on race and class and concerns some of the most pressing public policy issues occasioned by social displacement, poverty, guns, violence, and extreme inequality.

— patrick z. mcgavin, Chicago Reader, "State basketball powerhouse Orr Academy’s incredible rise to glory bared in gripping new film," 12 Mar. 2018
The new book, which meditates on the life in the margins of the other elements — trees, lichen, bacteria — partly feels like a response to the last years' headlines and Trump's executive orders scaling back environmental protections.

— craig morgan teicher, latimes.com, "Brenda Hillman's 'Extra Hidden Life, Among the Days' ponders how poetry can help us chronicle, engage, grieve," 9 Mar. 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.