What does ruminate mean?

Definitions for ruminate
ˈru məˌneɪtru·mi·nate

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word ruminate.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. ruminateverb

    chew the cuds

    "cows ruminate"

  2. chew over, think over, meditate, ponder, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculateverb

    reflect deeply on a subject

    "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate"

Wiktionary

  1. ruminateverb

    To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.

    A camel will ruminate just as a cow will.

  2. ruminateverb

    To meditate or reflect.

    I didn't answer right away because I needed to ruminate first.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To Ruminateverb

    Etymology: rumino, Lat.

    ’Tis a studied, not a present thought,
    By duty ruminated. William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra.

    Knock at the study, where he keeps,
    To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge. William Shakespeare.

    The condemned English
    Sit patiently, and inly ruminate
    The morning’s danger. William Shakespeare.

    Mad with desire she ruminates her sin,
    And wishes all her wishes o’er again;
    Now she despairs, and now resolves to try;
    Wou’d not, and wou’d again, she knows not why. Dry.

  2. To RUMINATEverb

    Etymology: ruminer, Fr. rumino, Lat.

    Others fill’d with pasture gazing sat,
    Or bedward ruminating. John Milton, Par. Lost, b. iv.

    The necessity of spittle to dissolve the aliment, appears from the contrivance of nature in making the salivary ducts of animals, which ruminate or chew the cud, extremely open. John Arbuthnot, on Aliments.

    On grassy banks herds ruminating lie. James Thomson.

    Alone sometimes she walk’d in secret where,
    To ruminate upon her discontent. Edward Fairfax, b. iv.

    Of ancient prudence here he ruminates,
    Of rising kingdoms, and of falling states. Edmund Waller.

    I am at a solitude, an house between Hampstead and London, wherein Sir Charles Sedley died: this circumstance sets me a thinking and ruminating upon the employments in which men of wit exercise themselves. Richard Steele, to Pope.

    He practises a slow meditation, and ruminates on the subject; and perhaps in two nights and days rouses those several ideas which are necessary. Isaac Watts, Improv. of the Mind.

ChatGPT

  1. ruminate

    To ruminate means to think deeply or for a long period of time about something. It may also refer to the process of slowly and thoroughly chewing cud, which is typical behavior for certain animals like cows and goats. The term is often used metaphorically to describe deep, careful thought.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Ruminateverb

    to chew the cud; to chew again what has been slightly chewed and swallowed

  2. Ruminateverb

    to think again and again; to muse; to meditate; to ponder; to reflect

  3. Ruminateverb

    to chew over again

  4. Ruminateverb

    to meditate or ponder over; to muse on

  5. Ruminateadjective

    alt. of Ruminated

  6. Etymology: [L. ruminatus, p. p. of ruminari, ruminare, fr. rumen, -inis, throat, akin to ructare to belch, erugere to belch out, Gr. , AS. roccettan.]

Editors Contribution

  1. Ruminate

    To ruminate is a sign of being a human -to those dont ruminate dont belong among humans

    My late grandmother used to say a human birth is worth aspiring for because only humans can ruminate-others can only chew cud-my late grandmother was right-it is evident in my life-when I took some wrong decision and added to parents (late)-misery


    Submitted by Lighthouse21 on March 15, 2018  

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of ruminate in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of ruminate in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of ruminate in a Sentence

  1. Richard Goldstein:

    It is true that people can get depressed after loss, but there are very significant differences in the behaviors that we're talking about when someone's depressed after loss than what is seen in prolonged grief, one aspect of depression is withdrawing from attachment figures, whereas someone with pathological grief can ruminate and seeks more proximity with those that have died.

  2. William Shakespeare:

    Speak to me as to thy thinkings, As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughts The worst of words.

  3. Burton:

    Every man knows his own but not others? defects and miseries; and ?tis the nature of all men still to reflect upon themselves their own misfortunes, not to examine or consider other men?s, not to confer themselves with others; to recount their own miseries but not their good gifts, fortunes, benefits which they have, to ruminate on their adversity, but not once to think on their prosperity, not what they have but what they want.

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Translations for ruminate

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"ruminate." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/ruminate>.

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    either of two different animal or plant species living in close association but not interdependent
    A inexpiable
    B commensal
    C lacerate
    D numinous

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