Basic Details
Word: Contemplated
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Thought about something carefully and for a long time, or looked at something quietly and thoughtfully. It is the past tense of contemplate.
Synonyms: considered, pondered, reflected, weighed
Antonyms: ignored, dismissed
How to Spell Contemplated
Syllables: con - tem - plat - ed
Tricky part: The middle is tem, not tim or tam, and there is only one t before ed. Students often write contimplated or contemplatted.
Watch out for: contimplated, contemplatted, contamplated
Memory tip: Spot the near-temple: con-TEMPL-ated has every letter of temple except its last e. People sit quietly in a temple and think, which is what contemplated means.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Meera contemplated the chessboard for five minutes before moving her knight.
Example 2: He contemplated joining the science club but chose the drama club instead.
Example 3: From the hilltop we contemplated the valley as the sun went down.
Fun Fact
Contemplate shares its Latin root with temple: a templum was a space marked out by Roman priests for watching the sky for signs.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to contemplated as used in the sentence:
My uncle contemplated the job offer from Bengaluru for a whole week before he finally said yes.
a) ignored
b) signed
c) considered
d) rejected
Show answer
c) considered. He spent a week thinking it over, so contemplated here means considered.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are misspelt. Choose the meaning of the one spelt correctly.
1. celabrated 2. accomodated 3. contemplated 4. complecated
a) made something hard to understand or deal with
b) gave someone a place to stay
c) marked a happy occasion with a party or ceremony
d) thought about something carefully for a long time
Show answer
d) thought about something carefully for a long time. Accommodated needs a double c and a double m, complicated an i and celebrated an e, so contemplated stands alone as correct.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The old man sat on the steps of the ghat and tpnoealcmetd the slow river for hours.
a) complimented
b) completed
c) compensated
d) contemplated
Show answer
d) contemplated. Watching a river quietly for hours is exactly what contemplated means, and it is the only option with two t's.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A person who has contemplated a problem has ____.
a) forgotten it
b) thought about it deeply
c) written it down
d) laughed at it
Show answer
b) thought about it deeply
2. Which word is the present tense of contemplated?
a) template
b) contemporary
c) contemplation
d) contemplate
Show answer
d) contemplate
