cogitation

[ koj-i-tey-shuhn ]

noun

1. concerted thought or reflection; meditation; contemplation:

   After hours of cogitation he came up with a new proposal.

2. the faculty of thinking:

   She was a serious student and had a great power of cogitation.

3. a thought; design or plan:

   to jot down one's cogitations.

Other Words From

• precog·i·tation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cogitation¹

1175–1225; Middle English cogitaciun < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin cōgitātiōn- (stem of cōgitātiō ), equivalent to cōgitāt ( us ) ( cogitate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Let every man have his “cogibundity of cogitation,” and let people suit themselves about the names of their churches.

From Project Gutenberg

After much cogitation they decided that Maud should send him a death-bed message, in which she was to own that she loved him.

From Project Gutenberg

It then looked at the hand as if the latter had done it on purpose and became sunk in profound cogitation.

From Project Gutenberg

The youth leaned against the side of the apartment a brief while longer in intense cogitation, and then sighed.

From Project Gutenberg

The end of this private cogitation was a vague impatience of all the things his venerable host took for granted.

From Project Gutenberg