Word.ws English Dictionary

contemplating

contemplating is the present participle and gerund of contemplate.

Meaning of contemplate

Verb

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.
    • To love, at least contemplate and admire, / What I see excellent.1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 1
    Synonyms:
    examine
  2. To consider as a possibility.
    • I contemplated doing the project myself, but it would have taken too long.

Words formed from contemplating

Phrases with contemplating

Questions about contemplating

What is contemplating the present participle and gerund of?
Contemplating is the present participle and gerund of contemplate.

Words near contemplating in the dictionary

  1. contemplaters
  2. contemplates
  3. contemplates one's navel
  4. contemplatest
  5. contemplateth
  6. contemplating
  7. contemplating one's navel
  8. contemplatingly
  9. contemplation
  10. contemplational
  11. contemplationism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contemplating (page history and authors); contemplate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-contemplating.ogg.

Cite this entry: “contemplating.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contemplating. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.