What does ruminate mean?
Word: Ruminate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Ruminate means to think long and deeply about something, turning it over in your mind. In science, it also describes how cows deal with their food.
Synonyms: reflect
How do you spell ruminate?
Syllables: ru - mi - nate
Tricky part: The opening vowel sounds like the oo in room, but a plain u spells it. Pupils who trust their ears write roominate.
Watch out for: roominate, ruminait
Memory tip: The oo sound hides in a plain u here, as it does in ruby and ruler.
Ruminate in a sentence
Example 1: I like to ruminate on a difficult chess move before I touch a piece.
Example 2: Papa ruminated over the two job offers for a whole weekend.
Example 3: After the exam, Sara sat on the steps ruminating on what she could have written.
Fun Fact
The Latin word behind ruminate meant to chew over, which is why cows, sheep and goats are called ruminants. English borrowed the picture: a thinker goes over an idea again and again, as a cow does its cud.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
One word in this sentence is misspelt. Find it:
Before choosing her subjects for Class 11, Anjali took a long walk beside the lake to rumminate on everything that her teachers and her parents had advised.
a) rumminate
b) subjects
c) teachers
d) advised
Show answer
a) rumminate. One m is enough; the short sound you might expect is not there.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Grandfather likes to sit on the porch and trmainue about his years as a ship's engineer.
a) nominate
b) terminate
c) ruminate
d) culminate
Show answer
c) ruminate. The u in the jumble rules out nominate and terminate, and culminate would need a c.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to ruminate as used in the sentence:
The captain sat apart to ruminate on the team's next move.
a) complain
b) celebrate
c) ponder
d) hesitate
Show answer
c) ponder. Sitting apart gives the captain time to think, which is what the verb is about.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. speculait 2. ruminate 3. concieve 4. contemplatte
a) to look at a thing for a long quiet while
b) to dwell quietly on a matter over time
c) to form an idea in the mind
d) to guess without knowing all the facts
Show answer
b) to dwell quietly on a matter over time. Contemplate has one t in its ending, speculate ends in ate, and conceive puts the e before the i.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which person is ruminating?
a) Zoya, tidying the shelves in the school library
b) Meena, replaying yesterday's talk in her head
c) Dev, laughing at a funny video with his sister
d) Arun, racing down the road to catch the bus
Show answer
b) Meena, replaying yesterday's talk in her head
2. Someone who ruminates too long on a small decision risks ____.
a) losing the way to the station
b) taking no action at all
c) forgetting how to swim
d) running out of pocket money
Show answer
b) taking no action at all
