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
Derek was into discovering things that you couldn’t premeditate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2020
"At no time did I premeditate interfering with anyone," said Maragh, whose mount finished last in the field of 12.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 13, 2011
When I decide to make a movie, I don't premeditate it.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 23, 2011
And pug, like the lords of the creation, was up to deceit, and practised pretended kindness to his spouse, to effect a diabolical scheme, which he seemed to premeditate.
From Stories about the Instinct of Animals, Their Characters, and Habits by Landseer, T.
Last month, Justice Secretary David Lammy announced plans to raise the minimum starting sentence for murdering a current or former partner to 25 years - in line with other premeditated killings.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
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
Unlike the deliberate, premeditated approach of human engineers, the natural process for generating life has no preconceived plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
For the actor, Padilha says, choosing what he wants to do is always instinctual, never premeditated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
Indeed, one of the most disarming features of the Burr version—a feature that enhances its overall credibility—is that it made Burr’s shot a more deliberate and premeditated act.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
The deadly, premeditated dullness of financial ads last week brought scornful shouts from two premeditating wits.
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
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
As soon as he had gone Clara and her mother began talking over the affair, premeditating what they should do with the child.
From The Black-Sealed Letter Or, The Misfortunes of a Canadian Cockney. by Spedon, Andrew Learmont
If we really wish to decrease and discourage vice, however, let us go about it in a logical manner and hold up a terrible example to those premeditating crime.
From Said the Observer by Stellman, Louis J. (Louis John)
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.
