philosophize
Americanverb (used without object)
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to speculate or theorize, usually in a superficial or imprecise manner.
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to think or reason as a philosopher.
verb
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(intr) to make philosophical pronouncements and speculations
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(tr) to explain philosophically
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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philosophizationnoun
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philosophizernoun
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overphilosophizeverb (used without object)
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well-philosophizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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philosophizesimple
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philosophizessimple
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have philosophizedperfect
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has philosophizedperfect
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am philosophizingprogressive
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are philosophizingprogressive
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is philosophizingprogressive
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have been philosophizingperfect progressive
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has been philosophizingperfect progressive
Past
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philosophizedsimple
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had philosophizedperfect
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was philosophizingprogressive
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were philosophizingprogressive
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had been philosophizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of philosophize
First recorded in 1585–95; philosoph(y) + -ize
Explanation
To philosophize is to think philosophically or just deeply and reflectively. On a long car trip, after you run out of school gossip, you and your friends might philosophize on the nature of man, or the question "What is beauty?" To philosophize is not exactly the same thing as doing philosophy. Often if we say someone is philosophizing, we are kind of making fun of him, as if all of the sudden he thinks he’s Socrates, but really he’s just parroting Dr. Phil. If you stop driving in the middle of the road to tell your friend a revelation you’ve just had about the nature of suburban society, she might say, “Stop philosophizing and drive!”
Vocabulary lists containing philosophize
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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:
These bit players work, whisper, chatter, laugh, philosophize, run, hide, weep, lament and survive, sometimes as an undifferentiated human blur and sometimes with great individual vividness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2023
After Hal and Josie’s meet-cute, they see sights blandly, philosophize blandly, blandly tiptoe around the notion of romance, and criticize each other — yes, blandly, but with an occasional touch of “salty” language.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
His writing, she added, made people “free to philosophize in a way that, to paraphrase Mills’ first intellectual hero Marx, seeks not merely to describe the world, but to transform it.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2021
No matter how much you philosophize about it, you won't get at the truth.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2019
“Since you didn’t bring me here to philosophize, what business?”
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Late in the book, as Odenkirk describes landing more serious-acting gigs, he philosophizes about how actors work.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 9, 2022
A character philosophizes on the dizzying pace of change in the late 19th century: “We’ve no say as to the pace of modernity’s advance. I myself am merely its vessel, a humble foot soldier …”
From Salon ● May 31, 2019
He narrates and philosophizes as he empties the dishwasher, boils macaroni, combs lice from a child’s hair.
From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2017
“America,” Wednesday philosophizes from the passenger seat, “is the only country in the world that wonders what it is.”
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2017
Whoever philosophizes, starts with it, and introduces it, when he will, without any apology.
From The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated: In Nine Discourses Delivered to the Catholics of Dublin by Newman, John Henry
"To be a ketchup enthusiast and say tomatoes are trash would be like saying you like peanut butter but hate peanuts," yet another user philosophized.
From Fox News ● Mar. 21, 2022
Poland President Andrzej Duda said he was humbled by the virus and philosophized about global recovery.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 24, 2021
Internet-connected photography, he philosophized, necessitated a “a reinvention of the camera.”
From Slate ● Oct. 23, 2017
As the G20 summit ended, Mr. Obama philosophized, “I think we all have to recognize these are turbulent times. A lot of countries are seeing volatile politics.”
From Washington Times ● Sep. 5, 2016
Samuel may have thought and played and philosophized about death, but he did not really believe in it.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Right before his 19th birthday, Rosenzweig wrote in his diary: “You believe you are philosophizing but you are only writing your own biography.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
He soon found out that there are millions of people in this country who are not impressed with his adolescent philosophizing.
From Salon ● May 21, 2025
At times, the series and the star’s media appearances felt as if they were in conversation with each other, with Seinfeld philosophizing about comedy and “Hacks” providing dissents.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2024
What’s most troubling about this witless mishmash of whiny, infantile philosophizing and bone-crunching violence is the increasing realization that it actually thinks it’s saying something of significance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
After eighteen sentences that mix wistful nostalgia with abstract philosophizing, the reverie is punctured by a stark revelation.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions 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.
