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 (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 comes from and shares the meanings of the Latin verb ruminari (“to chew the cud” or “muse upon”), which in turn comes from rumen, the Latin name for the first stomach compartment of ruminant animals (that is, creatures like cows that chew their cud).
Examples of ruminate in a Sentence
Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 24 June 2025
The latest one sees Gi-hun wrecked with guilt and ruminating on the grisly games he's found himself in on two separate occasions.
—Griff Griffin, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 2025
The other two portals ruminate on the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the wake of the horrendous Rodney King police brutality verdicts, as well as furious demands for gay rights and survival help as the AIDS epidemic rampaged.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2025
The shot sent Fenway Park into a frenzy and left the Yankees ruminating over a few calls that didn’t go their way in the top of the frame.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 14 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for ruminate
Cite this Entry
“Ruminate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruminate. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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ruminate
verb
Medical Definition
ruminate
intransitive verb
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