meditation
- 01 B1 Intermediate
the act of spending time in quiet thought to relax or for religious reasons.
the practice of mental focus or controlled breathing to achieve a state of relaxation, clarity, or spiritual awareness.
Simple“She practices ten minutes of meditation every morning to help manage her stress.”
In context“Daily meditation has been shown to reduce cortisol levels and improve emotional regulation in high-stress professional environments.”
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
serious and careful thought about something.
the process of deep, sustained reflection or serious consideration of a subject.
Simple“After much meditation on the problem, he finally found a solution.”
In context“The decision was reached only after long meditation on the ethical implications of the new corporate policy.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
a long speech or piece of writing that looks deeply at a subject.
a formal discourse, either written or spoken, that explores a philosophical or religious theme in a contemplative manner.
Simple“The professor published a short meditation on the nature of justice.”
In context“His latest book is a profound meditation on the decline of traditional craftsmanship in the digital age.”
“Meditation is not alone in this; astronauts, big-wave surfers and skydivers all experience their egos melting away during an intense state of flow.”
“It is a haunting, polyphonic meditation on trauma and belonging that hovers between realism and dream, asking how a person might rebuild a self after childhood has shattered it.”
From Old French meditacion, taken straight from Latin meditatio, which is the verbal noun of meditari, the past participle of meditari (“to think over, consider”). The Latin sits on a Proto-Indo-European root med- whose brief is simply “to measure, limit, consider, advise” — a semantic brief wide enough to account for both contemplative monks and surveyors.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.