Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

Thesaurus

ruminate

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of ruminate

to give serious and careful thought to
  • the minister hoped that the congregation would spend the remainder of the week ruminating the message of his sermon
Synonyms of ruminate

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

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 ruminate

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

disregard, ignore, overlook, slight

dismiss, pooh-pooh (also pooh), reject

Synonym Discussion of ruminate

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 ruminate

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

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up ruminate? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show comments hide comments

Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

WORD OF THE DAY

gargantuan

tremendous in size, volume, or degree

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. cache BuzzFeed reports on Trump-Cohen documents.

  2. intransigence, intransigent Trump cancels Davos trip.

  3. white supremacist Steve King discusses views.

SEE ALL

Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games