excogitate

1. 1.

   come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort

   “excogitate a way to measure the speed of light”

   Synonymsinventcontrivedeviseformulateforge

   Broadercreate by mental act
2. 2.

   reflect deeply on a subject

   “I mulled over the events of the afternoon”

   “philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years”

   “The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate”

   Synonymschew overthink overmeditatepondercontemplatemusereflectmullmull overruminatespeculate

   Broaderthink

   Narrowerpremeditatetheologizeintrospectbethinkcogitatewonderpuzzlestudy

Other forms of excogitate

past tense

excogitated·

present participle

excogitating·

third person

excogitates·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about excogitate

What does excogitate mean?

excogitate means "come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in excogitate?

excogitate has 4 syllables: ex-co-gi-tate. The stress falls on "co".

What is another word for excogitate?

Close synonyms include invent, contrive, devise, formulate, forge. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is excogitate a common word?

excogitate is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.