meditate

English

Etymology

First attested in 1560; borrowed from Latin meditātus, perfect active participle of meditor (“to think or reflect upon, consider, design, purpose, intend”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), morphologically as if frequentative of medeor (“to heal, to cure, to remedy”); in sense and in form near to Ancient Greek μελετάω (meletáō, “to care for, attend to, study, practise, etc.”). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.dɪˌteɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

meditate (third-person singular simple present meditates, present participle meditating, simple past and past participle meditated)

1. (intransitive) To contemplate; to keep the mind fixed upon something; to study.
2. (intransitive) To sit or lie down and come to a deep rest while still remaining conscious.
3. (transitive) To consider; to reflect on.
   • 1761, John Toland, The Life Of Iohn^[sic] Milton:

     […] yet I can by no means be persuaded that he could find leisure enough to write so many copies of it in his solitudes and sufferings, in the midst of treaties, in the hurry of removals, while he meditated his escape, and was strictly observ'd by his guards.

   • 1956, William Golding, Pincher Martin:

     He lay and meditated the sluggishness of his bowels. This created pictures of chrome and porcelain and attendant circumstances.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ponder

Derived terms

• meditater
• meditatingly
• meditatist
• nonmeditating
• remeditate

Related terms

• meditative
• meditation
• meditator

Translations

to contemplate

• Albanian: përsiat (sq), përsias,
• Bulgarian: размишлявам (bg) (razmišljavam), обмислям (bg) (obmisljam)
• Catalan: meditar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沉思 (zh) (chénsī), 冥想 (zh) (míngxiǎng)

• Czech: meditovat (cs)
• Esperanto: mediti (eo)
• Finnish: mietiskellä (fi)
• French: méditer (fr)
• Greek: διαλογίζομαι (el) (dialogízomai)

  Ancient Greek: μελετάω (meletáō)

• Hindi: मनन करना (manan karnā), ध्यान देना (dhyān denā)
• Italian: meditare (it), filosofare (it)
• Japanese: 瞑想する
• Khmer: ធ្វើសមាធិ (thvəəsaʼmaathiʼ)
• Korean: 숙고하다 (sukgohada)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: бясалгах (mn) (bjasalgax)
• Ngazidja Comorian: ulolea
• Persian: تعمق کردن, اندیشه کردن (fa)
• Polish: medytować (pl)
• Romanian: medita (ro)
• Russian: медитировать (ru) (meditirovatʹ)
• Sanskrit: ध्यायति (sa) (dhyāyati), चिन्तयति (sa) (cintayati)
• Scottish Gaelic: meòraich, cnuasaich
• Spanish: meditar (es)
• Thai: ทำสมาธิ (tam-sà-maa-tí), เข้าฌาน (th) (kâo-chaan)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: meditasyon yapmak
• Ukrainian: розду́мувати (rozdúmuvaty)

to come to a deep rest while still remaining conscious

• Bulgarian: медитирам (meditiram)
• Catalan: meditar (ca)
• Czech: meditovat (cs)
• Dutch: mediteren (nl)
• Finnish: meditoida (fi)
• Hindi: आराम करना (ārām karnā)
• Italian: meditare (it), riflettere (it)
• Portuguese: meditar (pt)
• Spanish: meditar (es)
• Swedish: meditera (sv)
• Ukrainian: медитува́ти impf (medytuváty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} mediti (eo)
• French: ^{(please verify)} méditer (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} meditieren (de)
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} meditál (hu)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 思考 (zh) (sīkǎo)
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} meditere
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ధ్యానించు (te) (dhyāniñcu)

Adjective

meditate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, as a participle) Meditated.

Further reading

• “meditate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “meditate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• admittee, datetime

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

meditate

1. inflection of meditare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

meditate f pl

1. feminine plural of meditato

Latin

Participle

meditāte

1. vocative masculine singular of meditātus

References

• “meditate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “meditate”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Verb

meditate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of meditar combined with te