meditate
Americanverb (used without object)
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meditates,
present (3rd person singular)
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meditated,
past participle, past
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meditating
present participle
verb (used with object)
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meditates,
present (3rd person singular)
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meditated,
past participle, past
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meditating
present participle
verb
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(intr; foll by on or upon) to think about something deeply
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(intr) to reflect deeply on spiritual matters, esp as a religious act
I make space to meditate every day
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(tr) to plan, consider, or think of doing (something)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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meditativenessnoun
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meditatornoun
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meditativeadjective
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unmeditatedadjective
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unmeditatingadjective
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meditatinglyadverb
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meditativelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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meditatesimple
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meditatessimple
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have meditatedperfect
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has meditatedperfect
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am meditatingprogressive
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are meditatingprogressive
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is meditatingprogressive
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have been meditatingperfect progressive
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has been meditatingperfect progressive
Past
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meditatedsimple
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had meditatedperfect
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was meditatingprogressive
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were meditatingprogressive
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had been meditatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of meditate
First recorded in 1550–60; from Latin meditātus “contemplated, planned,” past participle of meditārī “to meditate, contemplate, plan”
Explanation
When you meditate, you silently calm or focus your mind for relaxation or spiritual reasons. People who meditate regularly can put a stop to racing thoughts, making them less distracted. When you meditate, you focus on your breathing while sitting calmly. Some people mediate to reduce stress, while others see it as part of their spiritual practice. Meditate can also be used to describe any deep thinking you do, like when you meditate on what to say to a friend who is feeling sad lately. The Latin word for "ponder," meditari, is the root of meditate.
Vocabulary lists containing meditate
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Schooled
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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.
See Examples For:
Could they meditate as the day winds down?
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
Every month the group meets in a different city park to do yoga and meditate together, and they also come together for online meditation sessions over Zoom.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
He started the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace in 2005 to offer children throughout the world the opportunity to learn to meditate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
As the religion grew, travelers passing through Dunhuang started to carve caves into the nearby rock as places to pause and meditate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Shuttled from one specialist to the next, the girl had been prescribed to shun garlic, consume disproportionate quantities of bitters, meditate, drink green coconut water, and swallow raw duck’s eggs beaten in milk.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
She still uses her devices daily, meditates, and regularly checks in with how she is feeling.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2025
On the remarkable and moving “Little Gears,” a waltz-time number built atop piano and brushed drums, she meditates on a spider weaving a web.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025
A Forest Therapy participant meditates against a large tree in the Huntington’s cypress grove.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
Frazier said the garden has given her a place for more than just growing food — it’s where she meditates, connects with nature, and makes friends, too.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
She meditates a lot so during her class break it ain’t unusual to see her sitting on the desk with her legs folded and her arms crossed.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
He relied on care packages sent by family and friends, exercised, meditated and kept journals that he later used to write his book.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Because the thing about Miles Davis is that he teaches people who have never meditated how to stop and be coherent about absoluteness.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
He said he also meditated on the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Chelsea, in Oregon, meditated on the decision of whether or not to have kids for about a year after she started doubting it during the pandemic.
From Salon ● May 10, 2025
He meditated every day for ff teen minutes.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
Along with muscle-relaxing injections, Ella says she is also meditating to try to reduce her anxiety and free herself from the tension she regularly carries.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
"We're not saying it's all about just being spiritual and sitting under a tree and meditating," said Bovarnick.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
He endured the long weeks alone at sea by meditating and carrying on conversations with the ocean and wind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Here’s the irony: It can be stressful to start meditating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
I throw in a dab of secondhand Buddhism remembered from a friend’s account of a monastery in northern California where rich people pay to spend their weekends meditating and doing various menial chores, housework included.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
