muse

¹ American  

[myooz] / myuz /

verb (used without object)

mused, musing

1. to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.

   Synonyms:

   deliberate, contemplate, ponder, dream, think, ruminate, cogitate

2. Archaic. to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.

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verb (used with object)

mused, musing

1. to meditate on.

   Synonyms:

   deliberate, contemplate, ponder

2. to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

Muse ² American  

[myooz] / myuz /

noun

1. Classical Mythology.

   1. any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede (song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over various arts: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); identified by the Romans with the Camenae.

   2. any goddess presiding over a particular art.

2. (sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.

3. (lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.

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MUSE ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Mainstream U.S. English: a dialect of American English that is considered to be standard or unmarked by dialectal variation in pronunciation, syntactic structures, or vocabulary, and that is heard in newscasts and taught in schools.

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muse ¹ British  

/ mjuːz /

verb

1. to reflect (about) or ponder (on), usually in silence

2. (intr) to gaze thoughtfully

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noun

1. archaic a state of abstraction

Muse ² British  

/ mjuːz /

noun

1. Greek myth any of nine sister goddesses, each of whom was regarded as the protectress of a different art or science. Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the nine are Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania

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muse ³ British  

/ mjuːz /

noun

1. a goddess that inspires a creative artist, esp a poet

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Other Word Forms

• museful adjective
• musefully adverb
• muser noun

Etymology

Origin of muse¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English musen “to mutter, gaze meditatively on, be astonished,” from Middle French muser, perhaps ultimately derivative of Medieval Latin mūsum “snout”; muzzle

Origin of Muse²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English Muse, from Middle French, from Latin Mūsa, from Greek Moûsa

Origin of MUSE³

First recorded in 1995–2000; by abbreviation

Explanation

As a verb, to muse is to consider something thoughtfully. As a noun, it means a person — especially a woman — who is a source of artistic inspiration. In mythology, the Muses were nine goddesses who symbolized the arts and sciences. Today, a muse is a person who serves as an artist's inspiration. Often filmmakers talk about a certain actor being a muse — meaning the actor inspired a movie. Writers, painters, musicians, and other artists have muses. Muse can also refer to thinking deeply. If you muse about something, you're giving it serious thought. You can't muse in five seconds. People muse on certain ideas for years.

Example Sentences

Hawke is just one director’s muse among a quartet of 2026 acting nominees.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026

She’s also just my muse so I’m obsessed with her.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2026

Sterne was a muse of the broken-hearted, and, for all its oddities, “Tristram Shandy” is 18th-century sentimental fiction at its finest.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Bhirud began to muse to coworkers about whether failure to pay one’s taxes should really be considered a crime.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026

But I am beginning to sound like the Beards and Parringtons and will soon totally forget Levy Pants, the commercial muse for this particular effort.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole