A.Word.A.Day --cogitate

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Today's Word

cogitate

PRONUNCIATION:

(KOJ-i/uh-tayt)

MEANING:

verb tr., intr.: To think, reflect, meditate, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin cogitare, from co- (together) + agitare (to turn over, to consider). Earliest documented use: 1570.

USAGE:

“Ask someone how she thinks and you might learn that she talks to herself silently, or cogitates visually, or moves through mental space by traversing physical space. I have a friend who thinks during yoga, and another who browses and compares mental photographs. I know a scientist who plays interior Tetris, rearranging proteins in his dreams. My wife often wears a familiar faraway look; when I see it, I know that she’s rehearsing a complex drama in her head, running all the lines.”
Joshua Rothman; Thought Process; The New Yorker; Jan 16, 2023.

See more usage examples of cogitate in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

What has occurred over the course of the last few centuries is a growing (but by no means universal or certain) recognition that science gets the job done, while religion makes excuses. Sometimes they are very pretty excuses that capture the imagination of the public, but ultimately, when you want to win a war or heal a dying child or get rich from a discovery or explore Antarctica, you turn to science and reason, or you fail. -PZ Myers, biology professor (b. 9 Mar 1957)

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