meditative

Etymology

According to the revised OED it is borrowed from French méditatif (“relating to meditation; inclined to meditation”),^[2] a French adjective recorded from about 1320 in the sense "relating to meditation", from about 1330 for "inclined to meditation", and in the 14th century as a grammatical term for "desiderative".^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford instead take it as formed from English meditate + -ive, reinforced by the French word,^[3][4] while Etymonline and Dictionary.com derive it directly from Late Latin.^[5][6] The French adjective is from Late Latin meditātīvus, a grammarians' term for "desiderative" in the 4th century, and in a British source of about 1184 also "deep in thought",^[2] formed from the past participle stem of meditor (“to meditate, think over, reflect”), and the suffix -īvus.^[2][5] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inclined or accustomed to meditation, of a person or a state of mind: 1611, in W. Vaughan's The Spirit of Detraction.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates the adjective to 1611,^[7] Dictionary.com to 1605–15,^[6] while the 1989 edition of the OED had its first record in 1656, and Etymonline dates it to the 1650s.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the adjective was used both of people given to thought and of styles, works and modes of thought marked by it.^[2] A grammatical use, borrowed with the Latin and French term, named a verb expressing a wish or intention to act (a desiderative): the noun is recorded from 1612 to 1831 and the adjective in Johnson's dictionary,^[2][4] which defines the word as "addicted to meditation" and "expressing intention or design".^[9] The sense of a look or manner that shows meditation followed in 1756, "relating to meditation" in 1831, and "conducive to meditation" in 1841, in Hawthorne.^[2]

Timeline

• 1611 – of a person or a state of mind, inclined to meditation.^[2][7]
• 1612 – noun, in grammar, a desiderative word (obsolete by 1831).^[2]
• 1756 – of an action or appearance, showing meditation.^[2]
• 1831 – of or relating to meditation.^[2]
• 1841 – conducive to meditation.^[2]
• 1876 – engaged in meditating on something, with of.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Given to or engaged in meditation; thoughtful or pensive: a meditative walker on the shore.^[7][10][2]
2. Marked by or conducive to meditation: the meditative quiet of the chapel.^[7][11][2]
3. Of or relating to meditation.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (obsolete, 1612–1831) In grammar, a desiderative word.^[2][4]

Word family

• meditatively
• meditativeness
• unmeditative

Related words

• meditate
• meditation
• premeditate

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster