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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

This time, her muse was her own infant niece.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Ever the fashion muse, Chalamet is once again at the centre of another trend for 2027 - ballet.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

I hope that anyone reading the book feels the same encouragement to follow their inner muse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Plus, the risk to oil supplies grows with disruptions in the Red and Black seas, and Lydia Corbett’s high ponytail made her Picasso’s muse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

“I arrived just as the children were climbing aboard this noble coach of polished ebony, if you don’t mind the poetical language. My muse seems to be back in full force.”

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

Agents are all the rage, from Meta’s Muse to xAI’s Grokbot.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Not long after Zuckerberg took the stage in California, social media users started reporting cases of Muse running amok, including claims that the agent read emails without permission.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Jesse Levey, founder of Bay Area startup Longevity Health, tried getting Muse to manage the activities schedules of his three kids.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

At one point during his talk, an image flashed on the screen behind him of its Muse mascot embracing a blue padlock.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Mr. Muse and I sat at a table with two other men who talked about business.

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

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

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

“What was wearying about living alone,” she muses, “was the flux of emotions, the constant rise and fall in mood that wasn’t attached to anything.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

"Maybe he wants the right things," muses Rohloff, but "he cannot communicate well".

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

"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

A beagle in a bandana muses, “Disappointing someone is not the same as hurting them.”

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

“I suppose you could go west,” he muses.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

But trusting political candidates, she mused, can feel like a risk for voters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

Vance recently mused on his religious views while responding to a question on a Christian podcast.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

He has mused about terminating the agreement altogether.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 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

“That’s why she kept saying the same thing over and over whenever we wrote ‘The Gold-Bug,”’ James mused.

From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Jouppi is the case that asks them to stop musing.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026

Later, Feinmann said his words were not directed at the Mexican people — while musing that Sheinbaum had bigger things to worry about, like combating narco-trafficking, violence and corruption.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 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

Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien