muse
verb (used without object)
to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
Trivia Time
Which of the following was a Greek Muse associated with the arts?
muse
1 American
[myooz]
/ mjuz /
verb (used without object)
-
muses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mused,
past participle, past
-
musing
present participle
-
to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
- Synonyms:
- deliberate, contemplate, ponder, dream, think, ruminate, cogitate
-
Archaic. to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.
verb (used with object)
-
muses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mused,
past participle, past
-
musing
present participle
-
to meditate on.
- Synonyms:
- deliberate, contemplate, ponder
-
to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.
Muse
2
American
[myooz]
/ mjuz /
noun
-
Classical Mythology.
-
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.
-
any goddess presiding over a particular art.
-
-
(sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.
-
(lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.
MUSE
3
American
abbreviation
muse
1
British
/ mjuːz /
verb
-
to reflect (about) or ponder (on), usually in silence
-
(intr) to gaze thoughtfully
noun
Muse
2
British
/ mjuːz /
noun
muse
3
British
/ mjuːz /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
musesimple
-
musessimple
-
have musedperfect
-
has musedperfect
-
am musingprogressive
-
are musingprogressive
-
is musingprogressive
-
have been musingperfect progressive
-
has been musingperfect progressive
Past
-
musedsimple
-
had musedperfect
-
was musingprogressive
-
were musingprogressive
-
had been musingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing muse
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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:
Ever the fashion muse, Chalamet is once again at the centre of another trend for 2027 - ballet.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
They explain abstruse technical aspects, muse on therapy practices and add historical and cultural references.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 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
Sing to them, muse, of an uncomplicated man.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Using her as our muse, the students will begin compiling the diaries they’ve been keeping into a collaborative book.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
An a-Muse-ing trend: The newest creations from Silicon Valley are hyper-adorable digital assistants, most notably Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots.
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
Meta stock is riding the wave of excitement over Muse.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
The problem is that Siri is still slower and less intelligent than OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, and it can’t complete tasks like personal-assistant apps such as Meta’s Muse or Instinct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
“If you designed your Muse avatar or if you designed your Dot in the likeness of your pet, perhaps you would feel a little bit more forgiving if your pet coughs up a hairball, right?”
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
Mr. Muse excused himself to say hello to a friend.
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 could be sad in a bookshop,” Sophie muses at one point, “but you were never happier than when you were in a bookshop.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
The president, according to the news website Semafor, external, often muses - and jokes - about becoming a target of assassination.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 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
“Kwame,” Tano muses, as if considering adopting the name as his own.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
“It brings back memories of hunkering down behind an old cottonwood drift log…drinking black coffee from a Stanley thermos and waiting for mallards to whistle by,” he mused on Facebook, where he does his campaigning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Vance recently mused on his religious views while responding to a question on a Christian podcast.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
He mused that he probably could have been a doctor.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 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
Mother mused absently as she wrapped it in tissue paper, “I wonder if the family name has to go on it.”
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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
Despite his professorial air, however, he dished up practical advice rather than academic musing, the magazine said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Voldemort’s tone was musing, calm, but Harry’s scar had begun to throb and pulse: Pain was building in his forehead, and he could feel that controlled sense of fury building inside Voldemort.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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