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• muse
  muse

  verb (used without object)

  to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
• Muse
  Muse
• MUSE
  MUSE

  abbreviation

  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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Which of the following was a Greek Muse associated with the arts?

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muse

¹ American  

[myooz] / mjuz /

verb (used without object)

• muses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• mused,
  past participle,  past
• musing
  present participle

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)

• muses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• mused,
  past participle,  past
• musing
  present participle

1. to meditate on.

   Synonyms:

   deliberate, contemplate, ponder

2. to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

Muse ² American  

[myooz] / mjuz /

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

Derived Forms

• muser
  noun
• museful
  adjective
• musefully
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• musing
  present
• mused
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• muse
  simple
• muses
  simple
• have mused
  perfect
• has mused
  perfect
• am musing
  progressive
• are musing
  progressive
• is musing
  progressive
• have been musing
  perfect progressive
• has been musing
  perfect progressive

Past

• mused
  simple
• had mused
  perfect
• was musing
  progressive
• were musing
  progressive
• had been musing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will muse
  simple
• will have mused
  perfect
• will be musing
  progressive
• will have been musing
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

muse Muse MUSE muses mused musing

They explain abstruse technical aspects, muse on therapy practices and add historical and cultural references.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Sing to them, muse, of an uncomplicated man.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026

“He’s been my muse on this street for a while. … He just roams around the store, chills, does his little nap thing, and hangs out with everybody, so he’s very social.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

While each quotation provides something to muse over, the whole thing might be best summed up by a line from the comic poet Alexis: “The entire human condition’s completely insane.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026

That it meant that Gram was the muse for the book itself.

From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish

Although Muse isn’t sure what the next positive catalyst for Nvidia shares will be, “when this stock starts moving, we think it is going to move very, very fast,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

Concerts by Western acts were not uncommon before Russia's invasion of Ukraine - with artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lana Del Rey, Muse and System of a Down visiting the country.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

Alongside this vision document, Meta released an “open” version of its AI model called Muse Glimmer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Meta is launching a new model called Muse Glimmer and will release an open-weight version of its Muse Spark 1.2 model in the coming weeks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

I knew I was not making any sense when I saw Mr. Muse frowning and staring at me as though he were seeing an animal with two heads.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

“TELL ME, MUSE, of the dinners, much-nourishing and many in number.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2022

In Brooklyn's depressed Bedford-Stuyvesant area, the Brooklyn Children's Museum took over a building that had formerly housed a pool hall and an auto showroom, last month set up a neighborhood branch called MUSE.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now, dropt for politics and news, Neglected lay the drooping MUSE, Unmindful whence his fortune came, He stifled the poetic flame; Nor tale nor sonnet, for my lady, Lampoon, nor epigram was ready.

From Moores Fables for the Female Sex by Edward Caldwell Moore

He is the hero of a poem called the "MOUNTAIN MUSE," by our amiable countryman, Bryan.

From The First White Man of the West Life and Exploits of Col. Dan'l. Boone, the First Settler of Kentucky; Interspersed with Incidents in the Early Annals of the Country. by Timothy Flint

"You can't stop the Earth from turning or the years from passing," Lula muses in his gravelly voice in one of the social media videos he shares showcasing his workouts.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

“How terrible it would have been,” Mr. Biswas muses in satisfaction on his deathbed, “to have lived and died as one had been born, unnecessary and unaccommodated.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

"Leather on willow, country pubs and just the loveliness of England," she muses wistfully.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026

Like many a cat lover, Baseman whips out a phone to share videos of his beloved feline muses.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

“You’re more dangerous than I thought,” Hideo muses, admiring my handiwork.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

As Mark Cuban mused, if the state doesn’t receive any incremental revenue, “what’s the point of that?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Greenspan is most well-known for his 1996 speech in which he mused about irrational exuberance in the financial markets.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

“If we stop telling ourselves that the world is so-and-so, the world will stop being so-and-so,” Don Juan mused.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

“We’ll see what kind of music they’re playing this morning up in the milk barn,” he mused.

From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026

Humans were scarce, and the swamps and woods teemed with wildlife—probably a pretty good time to be a burrowing owl, Roy mused.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Jouppi is the case that asks them to stop musing.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

President Donald Trump riffed on his White House predecessors in a children's podcast Friday, while also joking about his weight and musing as to whether his body is swimsuit-ready.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

The repercussions of this method still reverberate through Panettiere’s life today, with the actress musing: “I’ve often wondered whether—unintentionally—I’ve brought on my traumas because I’m wired to think they’re good for me.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026

Meaning he won’t spend the time between now and Nov. 3 at some swank beach resort, sipping one of those colorful cocktails with a little paper parasol while musing over his inaugural address.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026

He strokes his short, brush mustache with his fingers, musing.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez