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muse

[ myooz ]
/ myuz /
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verb (used without object), mused, mus·ing.
to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
Archaic. to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.
verb (used with object), mused, mus·ing.
to meditate on.
to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.
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Origin of muse

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

OTHER WORDS FROM muse

muser, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH muse

mews 4, muse

Other definitions for muse (2 of 3)

Muse
[ myooz ]
/ myuz /
noun
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.
(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.

Origin of Muse

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English Muse, from Middle French, from Latin Mūsa, from Greek Moûsa

Other definitions for muse (3 of 3)

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.

Origin of MUSE

First recorded in 1995–2000; by abbreviation
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to muse

brood, cogitate, consider, contemplate, deliberate, dream, feel, meditate, moon, percolate, ponder, reflect, revolve, roll, ruminate, speculate, think, weigh, chew over, mull over

How to use muse in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for muse (1 of 3)

muse1
/ (mjuːz) /
verb
(when intr, often foll by on or about) to reflect (about) or ponder (on), usually in silence
(intr) to gaze thoughtfully
noun
archaic a state of abstraction

Derived forms of muse

muser, nounmuseful, adjectivemusefully, adverb

Word Origin for muse

C14: from Old French muser, perhaps from mus snout, from Medieval Latin mūsus

British Dictionary definitions for muse (2 of 3)

muse2
/ (mjuːz) /
noun
a goddess that inspires a creative artist, esp a poet

Word Origin for muse

C14: from Old French, from Latin Mūsa, from Greek Mousa a Muse

British Dictionary definitions for muse (3 of 3)

Muse
/ (mjuːz) /
noun
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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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