verb
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to devise, invent, or contrive
-
to think out in detail
Other Word Forms
- excogitable adjective
- excogitation noun
- excogitative adjective
- excogitator noun
- unexcogitated adjective
- unexcogitative adjective
Etymology
Origin of excogitate
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin excōgitātus, past participle of excōgitāre “to devise, invent, think out”; ex- 1, cogitate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is always peculiarly fascinating, therefore, to subject to direct verification by observation, that is, to render palpable to the senses, something which we have only theoretically excogitated or theoretically surmised.
From Project Gutenberg
Nature in a mirror is just nature, not nature thought out, excogitated, turned to human uses, interpreted in human words.
From Project Gutenberg
By the time that I had excogitated all this, my feet had visited many square yards of palace, comprising bed-room, banqueting-room, chief lady's room, chapel, and so on.
From Project Gutenberg
This is the most perfect form of absolutism ever yet excogitated in any man's brains.
From Project Gutenberg
It is strange that any two ministers could have excogitated so monstrous a proposition, and that both should be called "Divine."
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
