Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To consider or think (something) out carefully and thoroughly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To think out; contrive; devise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To think out; to find out or discover by thinking; to devise; to contrive.
  • intransitive verb rare To cogitate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To think over something carefully; to consider fully; cogitate.
  • verb To come to a conclusion through reason or careful thought.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb reflect deeply on a subject
  • verb come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin excōgitāre, excōgitāt-, to find out by thinking : ex-, ex- + cōgitāre, to think; see cogitate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin excōgitāre, from ex- + cōgitāre ‘think’.

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Examples

  • John Forrest Dillon, a man of high intelligence, explained, in the preface to the fourth edition of his treatise on local government: No writer on our jurisprudence is authorized to speak oracularly, to excogitate a system, or to give to his views any authoritative sanction.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • John Forrest Dillon, a man of high intelligence, explained, in the preface to the fourth edition of his treatise on local government: No writer on our jurisprudence is authorized to speak oracularly, to excogitate a system, or to give to his views any authoritative sanction.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • John Forrest Dillon, a man of high intelligence, explained, in the preface to the fourth edition of his treatise on local government: No writer on our jurisprudence is authorized to speak oracularly, to excogitate a system, or to give to his views any authoritative sanction.

    A History of American Law Lawrence M. Friedman 1985

  • I suppose I should have simply agreed with Ted's 5 points, moved on and not chosen TN as the forum to excogitate on what appears to be a success for Blizzard.

    The Golden 1M: Please Welcome the Next Candidate, World of Warcraft 2004

  • Twice or thrice he rose from his chair, paced the room with a determined brow, and sat down again with vigorous clutch of the pen; still he failed to excogitate a single sentence that would serve his purpose.

    New Grub Street 2003

  • It's no criticism of your work product, and no one can excogitate the perfect bill.

    CNN Transcript Sep 24, 2001 2001

  • On the other hand, while philosophers have not ceased their effort to excogitate what matter must be and cosmologies have still been produced, more interestingly perhaps, because cosmology has not been the center of philo - sophical interest, theories of matter have been derived from, or even only implied by, disciplines that were — epistemology, semantics, theories of action.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas HAROLD J. JOHNSON 1968

  • In fact, it must require a considerable effort to excogitate novel labor-saving devices.

    By Water to the Columbian Exposition Johanna S. Wisthaler

  • It is said that at an early age he disliked the Logic of Aristotle, and began to excogitate his system of

    English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction Henry Coppee

  • Not here, pray, I beseech you; but, if I must, suffer me to excogitate these very things on the ground.

    Clouds 446? BC-385? BC Aristophanes

Comments

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  • Though you may prefer to meditate

    Or idly to ponder and speculate,

    Should thinking involve

    Some problem to solve

    You'd better prepare to excogitate.

    September 29, 2016