premeditate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Synonym Usage
See deliberate.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of premeditate
First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin praemeditātus, past participle of praemeditārī “to contemplate in advance”; see pre-, meditate
Explanation
When you premeditate, you are planning ahead. While most people associate this word with crime, let's hope you can think of a better reason to premeditate — like buying groceries before a storm. When you meditate, you think deeply. The prefix pre- means “before,” so to premeditate means to think about a situation before you’ve jumped into it. If you’ve ever cooked a meal, you’ve premeditated the ingredients you need to get started. In a courtroom you’ll hear about "premeditated murder," which means the accused killer planned out his crime and it wasn’t a crime of passion. Premeditating can be a good thing, but not when it involves murder.
Vocabulary lists containing premeditate
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:
Mayfield wouldn’t say what he’ll do against the Browns, adding “I’m not going to premeditate anything. Once I step inside the lines, I’m a competitor.’
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2022
But defense attorney Tom Jacquinot said in his opening statement that the evidence will show Vrba did not premeditate to kill Steinfeld, who was his friend.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2020
Derek was into discovering things that you couldn’t premeditate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2020
When I decide to make a movie, I don't premeditate it.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 23, 2011
She has not an atom of self-consciousness; she cannot premeditate; she loves because she must, rather than because she will, because it is the condition of her life.
From Mary Anderson by Farrar, J. M.
The events of that night have been long a subject of heated debate in South Korea, particularly over whether the murder was premeditated.
From Barron's ● Jan. 16, 2026
For the actor, Padilha says, choosing what he wants to do is always instinctual, never premeditated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
Although Duke Béla's assassination in November 1272 appears to have been partly or wholly premeditated, the manner of the killing indicates that it was not carried out calmly.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2025
Detective Constable Lauren Speight described Lipscombe as "calculating, premeditated, and well-organised".
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025
“No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion,” Roosevelt declared, “the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
The deadly, premeditated dullness of financial ads last week brought scornful shouts from two premeditating wits.
From Time Magazine Archive
No, say the four defense psychologists and psychiatrists who have examined Sirhan; as a paranoid schizophrenic, Sirhan was, in effect, incapable of fully premeditating his deed or weighing its risks.
From Time Magazine Archive
He is smart enough to possibly be given credit for premeditating this eremitic media strategy; he is also obstreperous enough simply to hate having his privacy invaded.
From Time Magazine Archive
During these three terrible hours, Louis Bonaparte carried out what he had been premeditating, and completed his work.
From The History of a Crime The Testimony of an Eye-Witness by Hugo, Victor
On this island the castle was erected; and the basin was flooded from a little stream which the premeditating builder had previously diverted and dammed.
From Hastings and Neighbourhood by Higgins, Walter
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.
