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

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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
Cootie watches a stranger muse about him on the news. Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 22 May 2026 My family and friends generously serve as my muses. Kelsey Schagemann, Midwest Living, 22 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
  • If experimental and vanguard poetry is set on fragmenting the lyric I, verse plays and poet’s theater redistribute it.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 29 May 2026
  • That task was best tackled by the great Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, whose tribute, published in the Jornal do Brasil, captured the nuances of the collective mood.
    Jack Lang, New York Times, 28 May 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
  • In her book Fresh Banana Leaves, Indigenous scientist and scholar Jessica Hernandez meditates on the meaning of the banana plant within the ecologies of her ancestors across what is now Mexico and El Salvador.
    Sophia Rey, JSTOR Daily, 28 May 2026
  • Biss, who often speaks at the Memorial Day and Veterans Day events at Fountain Square, meditated this year on loss and sacrifice.
    Shun Graves, Chicago Tribune, 26 May 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
  • But on the other hand the club also needed power, and even in a best case scenario Durbin never projected as someone who’d move the needle much in that area.
    Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 30 May 2026
  • That created the possibility that Snell’s recovery could be much shorter than the 2-3 months originally projected.
    Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 30 May 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Muse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muse. Accessed 3 Jun. 2026.

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