I. ˈpändə(r) verb
( pondered ; pondered ; pondering -d(ə)riŋ ; ponders )
Etymology: Middle English ponderen, pondren, from Middle French ponderer, from Latin ponderare to weigh, ponder, from ponder-, pondus weight — more at pendant
transitive verb
1. : to weigh in the mind : evaluate , appraise
pondered the child, and the life she had thus far lived — Elizabeth M. Roberts
2. : to deliberate over : think out
ponder the shape and size of a new product
3. : to think about : muse over
ponder the events of history
intransitive verb
: to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply — often used with on or over
ponder over a moral issue
Synonyms:
ponder , meditate , muse , and ruminate can mean to consider something attentively or with more or less deliberation. ponder can suggest a careful weighing and balancing of considerations bearing on a matter, or a mere deliberative even though inconclusive thinking about something
United States customs officials pondered whether to admit as art and as sculpture a work by the Rumanian modernist — Thomas Munro
I shall ponder the matter carefully, my friends, and with the help of prayer, I may yet arrive at some solution of our difficulties — Elinor Wylie
they demand a good deal of careful pondering and the recollection of pertinent facts — J.H.Robinson †1936
pondered over God's greatness and incomprehensibility — H.O.Taylor
meditate suggests more a directing or focusing of one's thoughts in an effort to comprehend something, or it can suggest merely deep consideration, often with a purpose or plan in mind to be settled
the young priest blotted himself out of his own consciousness and meditated upon the anguish of his Lord — Willa Cather
meditated with concentrated attention on the problem of flight — Havelock Ellis
what she meditated doing on England's behalf — C.S.Forester
muse can come close to meditate but more often suggests a mere more or less focused daydreaming as in remembrance
he sat immovably, like one that mused on some great purpose — Thomas De Quincey
he mused wretchedly, as he walked homeward, what might she not do? — William McFee
still a pleasant mystery; enough to muse over on a dull afternoon — Elmer Davis
not so much in order to read it as to muse with kindly condescension over this token of bygone fashion — Virginia Woolf
ruminate usually implies a going over the same matter again and again, suggesting less than the other terms a deliberative weighing or a focusing or absorption
I sit at home and ruminate on the qualities of certain little books like this one — L.P.Smith
forty years of ruminating on life — Waldemar Kaempffert
the characters of the new friends he made interested him tremendously, and he could ruminate upon them when alone — Osbert Sitwell
to teach philosophy, write, and ruminate beneath elms — Whitney Balliett
II. noun
( -s )
: an act of pondering or reflecting : reverie