dwell
v.v. to live in a specific place. It can also mean to spend a lot of time thinking or talking about something, especially something sad or bad.
v. to reside in a specified place; in a figurative sense, to linger on a particular thought or topic. Often followed by 'on' or 'upon' when referring to mental preoccupation.
I try not to dwell on my past mistakes.
The author chose to dwell in a remote cottage while finishing her latest novel.
While it is necessary to analyze the failure of the project, we must not dwell on the disappointment so long that we lose the momentum required for our next venture.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰwel-der. Proto-Germanic *dwalaz Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną Proto-West Germanic *dwalljan Old English dwellan ▲ Old Norse dveljainflu. Middle English dwellen English dwell From Middle English dwellen (“delay, live, remain, persist”), from Old English dwellan (“to mislead, deceive; be led into error, stray”), from Proto-Germanic dwaljaną (“to hold up, delay; hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European dʰwelH- (“to whirl, swirl, blur, obfuscate”), which is cognate with Old Norse dvelja and related to Proto-Germanic *dwelaną (“to go astray”), which underwent semantic change in its descendants. Cognates include Danish dvæle (“to linger, dwell”) and Swedish dväljas (“to dwell, reside”).
The verb is intransitive; when used to mean 'thinking about something', it requires the preposition 'on' or 'upon'.
He dwells his problems too much.He dwells on his problems too much.When meaning to think about something, the verb must be followed by the preposition 'on'.