contemplate

Attested since the 1590s; borrowed from Latin contemplātus, from contemplari (“observe, survey”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.təm.ˌpleɪt/

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contemplate (third-person singular simple present contemplates, present participle contemplating, simple past and past participle contemplated)

1. To look at on all sides or in all its aspects; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study, ponder, or consider.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     To love, at least contemplate and admire, / What I see excellent.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Byron

     We thus dilate / Our spirits to the size of that they contemplate.

2. To consider as a possibility.
   • (Can we date this quote?) A. Hamilton

     There remain some particulars to complete the information contemplated by those resolutions.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Kent

     If a treaty contains any stipulations which contemplate a state of future war.

   • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

   I contemplated doing the project myself, but it would have taken too long.

• See also Thesaurus:ponder
• (look at): examine

• contemplative
• contemplation
• contemplatively

• “contemplate” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

contemplate

1. second-person plural present indicative of contemplare
2. second-person plural imperative of contemplare
3. feminine plural of contemplato

• completante

contemplāte

1. vocative masculine singular of contemplātus