muse 1 of 2

Definition of musenext
as in poet
a person who writes poetry where is the muse who will sing of this man's great and noble deeds?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

muse

2 of 2

verb

Synonym Chooser

How is the word muse different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of muse are meditate, ponder, and ruminate. While all these words mean "to consider or examine attentively or deliberately," muse suggests a more or less focused daydreaming as in remembrance.

mused upon childhood joys

When is it sensible to use meditate instead of muse?

While in some cases nearly identical to muse, meditate implies a definite focusing of one's thoughts on something so as to understand it deeply.

meditated on the meaning of life

When might ponder be a better fit than muse?

The meanings of ponder and muse largely overlap; however, ponder implies a careful weighing of a problem or, often, prolonged inconclusive thinking about a matter.

pondered the course of action

Where would ruminate be a reasonable alternative to muse?

While the synonyms ruminate and muse are close in meaning, ruminate implies going over the same matter in one's thoughts again and again but suggests little of either purposive thinking or rapt absorption.

ruminated on past disappointments

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of muse
Noun
That notebook became the muse of Icon Skincare, a new line helmed by Johns and Call launching today. Celia Shatzman, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026 January 20 – February 18 Friends may call, yet your muse speaks louder. Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 30 May 2026
Verb
When EviDenS de Beauté launched 20 years ago, founder Charles-Edouard Barthes started the brand as a love letter to his wife and muse Eriko Nakamura. Fairchild Studio, Footwear News, 13 Nov. 2025 Taken one at a time, the deployments can seem random or fickle — Trump will often muse about sending troops into a city, only to back track his comments and focus on a different city days later. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR, 3 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for muse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muse
Noun
  • During the Grand Tour era in the 18th century, poets, painters, and aristocrats flocked here to admire the city’s ancient ruins and baroque art and architecture—still valid reasons to visit now, though today’s travelers will find plenty of modern pleasures as well.
    Laura Itzkowitz, Robb Report, 4 June 2026
  • Interest in the author’s life can curdle into obsession, as in Henry James’s The Aspern Papers, in which the narrator embraces any deception necessary to acquire the letters of a dead poet.
    Walt Hunter, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026
Verb
  • But Yi has ruminated on these interconnections for more than two decades, making visible (and, sometimes, odorous) the systems around us that are microscopic, impermanent, or technologically abstract, often questioning our discomfort with them.
    Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 29 May 2026
  • Let’s ruminate on that precept of aiming to use AI to disprove or find a counterexample, rather than solely being used to prove something outright.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Noun
  • Blues developed after the Civil War (1861–65) and was influenced by 19th-century work songs and field hollers, minstrel show music, ragtime, and church music such as spirituals and hymns, as well as the folk and popular music of white Southerners.
    René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 May 2026
  • Gangsta rap’s effectiveness as a prosecutorial tool, like the minstrel shows before it, depends on audiences mistaking caricature for authenticity, and hinges on hearing artistic expression as documentary evidence of criminal actions.
    A.D. Carson, The Conversation, 6 May 2026
Verb
  • But Saturday’s action left plenty to ponder in the meantime.
    Jeff Rosen, Kansas City Star, 30 May 2026
  • There’s much for the hierarchy to ponder after such a torrid campaign.
    James Pearce, New York Times, 28 May 2026
Verb
  • At other times, the music meditates on an image — there’s a tribute to Sylvia Plath, another famous McLean patient — that’s beautiful on its own but dramatically inert.
    Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2026
  • But this was music to meditate to, to imagine our greater place in the universe, while perhaps calling aliens to his side.
    Steven Rowley, PEOPLE, 3 June 2026
Verb
  • Setting the table Regional leaders contemplated that very possibility before the West Sacramento minor league park was ever built.
    Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 29 May 2026
  • Senate Republicans briefly contemplated a measure that would have provided a billion dollars to bolster ballroom security, but that provision has since been dropped from a larger GOP bill.
    Arden Farhi, CBS News, 28 May 2026
Verb
  • Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller suggested the visible tension reflected a team struggling to find answers during a difficult stretch.
    Alejandro Avila, FOXNews.com, 2 June 2026
  • Breakfast is served in the lobby, which changes its decor throughout the year to reflect the seasons (Christmas, with over-the-top holiday flourishes, is everyone’s favorite).
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 June 2026
Verb
  • Former health secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who pulled off a stunning rise late in the California governor’s race, will advance to the general election, the Associated Press projected Friday.
    Praveena Somasundaram, Washington Post, 6 June 2026
  • California Treasurer Fiona Ma is projected to advance to the November general election in the race to become the state’s next lieutenant governor, according to the Associated Press.
    Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 6 June 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Muse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muse. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on muse

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster