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ponder

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of ponder

to give serious and careful thought to
  • I'm pondering whether or not I should join another committee.
Synonyms of ponder

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

muse (upon), reflect (on or upon), reminisce

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 Synonymous with ponder

beat one's brains out (about), chew on, cudgel one's brains (about), look at
Near Antonyms of ponder

disregard, ignore, overlook, slight

dismiss, pooh-pooh (also pooh), reject

Synonym Discussion of ponder

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.
    • pondered the course of action
meditate implies a definite focusing of one's thoughts on something so as to understand it deeply.
    • meditated on the meaning of life
muse suggests a more or less focused daydreaming as in remembrance.
    • mused upon childhood joys
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

Learn More about ponder

  1. See words that rhyme with ponder Dictionary: Definition of ponder Spanish Central: Translation of ponder Nglish: Translation of ponder for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of ponder for Arabic speakers

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