ruminative

UK/ˈruməˌneɪdɪv/US/ˈruməˌneɪdɪv/

adjectiveC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — ruminate sits at #14,012Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Ruminative means given to long slow thought. A ruminative pause.

The image is a cow chewing the cud, which is the same root as ruminant. A ruminative style suits an essay and ruins a set of instructions.

Definitions of ruminative

1adjectiveruminativeGiven to long slow thought.C2
“The ruminative tone made a short book feel long.”

ruminative is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin
rūminātus
English
ruminate
English, today
ruminative

Built from

rūminor · Latin — to chew the cud, turn over in the mind

From ruminate + -ive. ruminate 1533; Latin rūminātus, perfect active participle of rūminor (“to chew the cud, turn over in the mind”) (see -ate), from rūmen + -ō, itself of uncertain origin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

ruminative in the wild

The group are considered pioneering figures of techno's ruminative "home-listening" aesthetic in the early 1990s.
The Black Dog (band)
The work as a whole is a loving and ruminative evocation of Arnold's time and place.
An Oxford Elegy
Treatments specifically addressing ruminative thought patterns are still in the early stages of development.
Rumination (psychology)
Such psychological distress often arises from a neurotic or ruminative aspect of self-attention.
Self-absorption paradox
For the most part, they are slow pieces, delicate ballads that sacrifice rhythmic drive in exchange for a ruminative self-questioning.
Once I Loved

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the rūminor family

ruminate ruminant

ruminative — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

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