cogitation

American  

[koj-i-tey-shuhn] / ˌkɒdʒ ɪˈteɪ ʃən /

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 Word Forms

• precogitation noun

Etymology

Origin of cogitation

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

Example Sentences

Psychologists know that people are credulous about the cognitive abilities of those who matter to them, overinterpreting simple responses as signs of cogitation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025

But the output is mostly a simulacrum of human thought, not the product of cogitation.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2023

At one extreme, there are those for whom a lifetime of rumination and cogitation offers an unparalleled sense of meaning.

From Salon • May 30, 2021

But even that scene moves; there isn’t a moment when Smallwood feels bogged down, by grad-school cogitation or anything else.

From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2021

Peace lay on Devon like a blessing, the summer’s peace, the reprieve, New Hampshire’s response to all the cogitation and deadness of winter.

From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles