Cogitate

WORD OF THE DAY


cogitate \ cog·i·tate \ˈkä-jə-ˌtāt\ verb


Definition:
1: to ponder or meditate on usually intently <cogitating the possible consequences of my decision>
2: to meditate deeply or intently 


Examples:
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.


Did You Know:
Latin cogitatus, past participle of cogitare to think, think about, from co- + agitare to drive, agitate


Do you ever like to just stop and think? In our fast paced world, we hardly ever have the time to sit down and cogitate on the questions of life. Our society seems to value action, with manifest results, rather than the pursuits of the mind. However, if we never take time to cogitate, to figure out who we are and where we are going, how will we ever know what that first step is? We don't just need "doers" in this word of ours; we also need the cogitators, i.e. the "thinkers," who create the ideas behind our actions!
The verb cogitate refers to the action of deep thinking or contemplation. When you defer a decision to cogitate, it means that you are waiting to act until you have thought long and hard about all of your options. To cogitate means much more than to quickly think or deduce something; what sets it apart from our daily brainwork is the deep effort put into the turning over of our minds. You might think of a professor who cogitates right before class in order to focus his mind on the upcoming task. Sometimes, you don't even need a subject in mind before you begin to cogitate. Those of us who are more in tune with our spiritual side can simply cogitate, or mediate, while we listen to the inspiring sounds of the outdoors, as long as they don't break our concentration!
Cogitate is also used more specifically to signify the act of thinking about something or formulating a plan. While you could close your eyes to cogitate, allowing whatever comes into your mind to become the item of focus, you can also more pointedly cogitate a strategy to close up that pressing business deal. Many times, you can differentiate this usage of the word if you can see a noun placed right after cogitate in a sentence. Case in point: A writer may cogitate an outline as a way to organize her story ideas. In this and other examples, something is "receiving" the action; the outline, in this case, is the thing that is being thought about or created. You can cogitate a recipe, or a sales' pitch; in fact, whenever you need to come up with something clever or make something better, you can surely cogitate whatever that happens to be. After reading this entry, you'll find that it's always a good idea to cogitate your sentences before you write them so you can be sure to use cogitate correctly!