cogitate
verb
cog·i·tate ˈkä-jə-ˌtāt 
cogitated; cogitating
transitive verb
: to ponder or meditate on usually intently
cogitating the possible consequences of my decision
intransitive verb
: to meditate deeply or intently
cogitating on her career plans
cogitated on what would be the right thing to do
Synonyms
- chew over
- consider
- contemplate
- debate
- deliberate
- entertain
- eye
- kick around
- meditate
- mull (over)
- perpend
- ponder
- pore (over)
- question
- revolve
- ruminate
- study
- think (about or over)
- turn
- weigh
- wrestle (with)
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
I was cogitating about my chances of failing. by the time he finishes cogitating what to do with his life, it'll be almost over
Recent Examples on the Web Dyson presents mathematical arguments that these beings can, through shrewd conservation of energy, maintain the resources needed to survive, cogitate and communicate in an eternally expanding cosmos. 
John Horgan, Scientific American, 16 June 2021 As his characters cogitate and self-medicate, scheme and philosophize, his subject is less the content of their thoughts than the mind contemplating itself. Washington Post, 11 June 2021 Jermaine uncovers America's obsession with capitalism and its cogitating impact on his everyday decision making, as well as those around him. Michael Saponara, Billboard, 20 Apr. 2018 Penrose believes that Hawking's condition has forced him to work more creatively, to take imaginative leaps where someone with a less uncertain future might want to cogitate a little longer. Jerry Adler, Newsweek, 14 Mar. 2018 But Long, one of the revelers, (Ensemble regular James Rankin, always terrific) has been cogitating, too -- about their lot in life. Andrea Simakis, cleveland.com, 9 Dec. 2017 But their arguments sustain this 95-minute, intermissionless play and send us away cogitating. By Lawrence Toppman, charlotteobserver, 21 Sep. 2017 See More
John Horgan, Scientific American, 16 June 2021 As his characters cogitate and self-medicate, scheme and philosophize, his subject is less the content of their thoughts than the mind contemplating itself. Washington Post, 11 June 2021 Jermaine uncovers America's obsession with capitalism and its cogitating impact on his everyday decision making, as well as those around him. Michael Saponara, Billboard, 20 Apr. 2018 Penrose believes that Hawking's condition has forced him to work more creatively, to take imaginative leaps where someone with a less uncertain future might want to cogitate a little longer. Jerry Adler, Newsweek, 14 Mar. 2018 But Long, one of the revelers, (Ensemble regular James Rankin, always terrific) has been cogitating, too -- about their lot in life. Andrea Simakis, cleveland.com, 9 Dec. 2017 But their arguments sustain this 95-minute, intermissionless play and send us away cogitating. By Lawrence Toppman, charlotteobserver, 21 Sep. 2017 See More Word History
Etymology
Latin cogitatus, past participle of cogitare to think, think about, from co- + agitare to drive, agitate
First Known Use
1582, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Kids Definition
cogitate
verb
cog·i·tate ˈkä-jə-ˌtāt
cogitated; cogitating
: to think over : ponder
The book left her cogitating about the author's life.
cogitating
verb
as in pondering
to give serious and careful thought to by the time he finishes cogitating what to do with his life, it'll be almost over Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- pondering
- contemplating
- debating
- considering
- studying
- entertaining
- questioning
- ruminating
- weighing
- exploring
- deliberating
- analyzing
- eyeing
- reviewing
- meditating
- eying
- looking at
- revolving
- digesting
- perpending
- chewing over
- chewing on
- turning
- reminiscing
- reasoning
- kicking around
- mulling (over)
- wrestling (with)
- thinking (about or over)
- beating one's brains out (about)
- opining
- cudgeling one's brains (about)
- poring (over)
- believing
- concluding
- absorbing
- conceiving
- assimilating
- second-guessing
- reflecting (on or upon)
- musing (upon)
- speculating (about)
- fixating (on or upon)
- dwelling (on or upon)
- brooding (about or over)
- fretting (about or over)
- obsessing (about or over)
- drinking (in)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- ignoring
- disregarding
- overlooking
- rejecting
- dismissing
- slighting
- pooh-poohing
- poohing