Library / English Dictionary

CONTEMPLATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long and thoughtful observation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("contemplation" is a kind of...):

stare (a fixed look with eyes open wide)

Derivation:

contemplate (look at thoughtfully; observe deep in thought)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A calm, lengthy, intent consideration

Synonyms:

contemplation; musing; reflection; reflexion; rumination; thoughtfulness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("contemplation" is a kind of...):

consideration (the process of giving careful thought to something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "contemplation"):

cogitation; study (attentive consideration and meditation)

meditation; speculation (continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature)

meditation ((religion) contemplation of spiritual matters (usually on religious or philosophical subjects))

introspection; self-contemplation; self-examination (the contemplation of your own thoughts and desires and conduct)

retrospect (contemplation of things past)

Derivation:

contemplate (reflect deeply on a subject)

contemplate (consider as a possibility)

contemplate (think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes)

contemplate (look at thoughtfully; observe deep in thought)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The solitary candle was held between himself and the paper, without any reference to her possible convenience; but she had nothing to do, and was glad to have the light screened from her aching head, as she sat in bewildered, broken, sorrowful contemplation.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The scenes in its neighbourhood, Charmouth, with its high grounds and extensive sweeps of country, and still more, its sweet, retired bay, backed by dark cliffs, where fragments of low rock among the sands, make it the happiest spot for watching the flow of the tide, for sitting in unwearied contemplation; the woody varieties of the cheerful village of Up Lyme; and, above all, Pinny, with its green chasms between romantic rocks, where the scattered forest trees and orchards of luxuriant growth, declare that many a generation must have passed away since the first partial falling of the cliff prepared the ground for such a state, where a scene so wonderful and so lovely is exhibited, as may more than equal any of the resembling scenes of the far-famed Isle of Wight: these places must be visited, and visited again, to make the worth of Lyme understood.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

If an enemy landed upon our shores it was then that, with our small army, we should be forced to fall back upon native valour trained into hardihood by the practice and contemplation of manly sports.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was, I will admit, somewhat baffled by the difficulty of discovering an envelope to contain the gas, but the contemplation of the immense entrails of these reptiles supplied me with a solution to the problem.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had often heard of the beauty of the youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster, but no description of it, and no contemplation of colourless photographs, had prepared me for the subtle, delicate charm and the beautiful colouring of that exquisite head.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A very short visit to Mrs. Allen, in which Henry talked at random, without sense or connection, and Catherine, rapt in the contemplation of her own unutterable happiness, scarcely opened her lips, dismissed them to the ecstasies of another tete-a-tete; and before it was suffered to close, she was enabled to judge how far he was sanctioned by parental authority in his present application.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Then she lost herself in drowsy contemplation of the soothing balm of his strength: Life poured from the ends of his fingers, driving the pain before it, or so it seemed to her, until with the easement of pain, she fell asleep and he stole away.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I recoiled before contemplation of that frightful death, and for a moment I entertained the wild idea of seizing Maud in my arms and leaping overboard.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I expressed my pleasure in the contemplation of it, and little Em'ly was emboldened to say, shyly, Don't you think you are afraid of the sea, now?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But being of an excellent understanding, much improved by contemplation and converse, he at last arrived at a competent knowledge of what human nature, in our parts of the world, is capable to perform, and desired I would give him some particular account of that land which we call Europe, but especially of my own country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)