contemplate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin contemplātus (“surveyed, observed”), the past participle of contemplor (“to gaze attentively, observe; consider”), also active contemplō,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from com-, here probably intensive, and templum (“an area marked out by the augurs for taking the auspices”), the source of temple.^{[2][3][7][8][9]} The American Heritage Dictionary connects templum with the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *tem-.^[7] Barnhart sees the English verb as probably in part a back-formation from the earlier contemplation,^[10] recorded from the 13th century,^[11] and the OED compares that noun and the earlier verb contemple.^[2] The OED also compares Anglo-Norman contempler, contempler and Italian contemplare.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To look at a person or thing attentively; to observe, gaze at, survey: first recorded before 1533, in Lord Berners's translation of Guevara's Golden Boke of Marcus Aurelius.^[2][4] Older dictionaries date the verb later: Barnhart to 1592,^[10] Etymonline to the 1590s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1585–95.^[6]

Semantic evolution

According to Ayto, contemplārī first meant to observe omens carefully, the augur's task, but its use soon became more general.^[8][12] In English the sense "to think deeply about, ponder" followed in 1538, and the intransitive "to meditate, muse", sometimes on religious matters, in the same year.^[2] In post-classical Latin the verb had also meant to live a contemplative life (8th century).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the transitive verb as "to consider with continued attention; to study; to meditate", and the intransitive as "to muse; to think studiously".^[13] At the end of the 18th century the meaning moved towards the future: to regard something as possible or likely (1792, Alexander Hamilton) and to have something in mind as an intention or a course of action (1794).^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "to intend" to 1816.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1533 – to look at attentively, to gaze at.^[2][4]
• 1538 – to think deeply about, to ponder; intransitive, to meditate.^[2]
• 1581–1745 – intransitive, with on or upon, to gaze (obsolete).^[2]
• 1592 – Barnhart's date.^[10]
• 1785 – to regard as something specified.^[2]
• 1792 – to anticipate as possible or likely.^[2]
• 1794 – to have in mind as an intention.^[2]
• 1816 – to intend, in Etymonline.^[3]
• 1875 – to have reference to, encompass.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look at something thoughtfully and at length; to gaze at: He stood contemplating the view from the bridge.^[14][4][2]
2. To think about something carefully and at length; to ponder or consider calmly.^[14][4][2]
3. (intransitive) To think deeply, especially for spiritual reasons; to meditate.^[14][2][15]
4. To have in mind as a possibility or an intention: She was contemplating a move abroad.^[14][2]
5. To expect or foresee something as likely.^[2]
6. To regard a person or thing in a particular way or with a particular feeling.^[2]

Word family

• contemplator
• contemplatingly
• uncontemplated
• recontemplate

Related words

• contemplation
• contemplative
• temple

Usage notes

The stress has varied: early dictionaries and orthoepists usually put it on the second syllable, and this remained common until the late 19th century, since when the first-syllable stress has prevailed, as in other verbs in -ate.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press