premeditate
/priːˈmɛdɪteɪt/
premeditate means to meditate, consider, or plan beforehand; to think about and revolve in the mind beforehand. It carries an Arena rating of 1729, earned across 14 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, premeditate ranks #2,890 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,915 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,405 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #3,987 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
premeditate is pronounced /priːˈmɛdɪteɪt/.
Why “premeditate” is a great word
To plan or consider an action, especially a wrongdoing, deliberately and in advance. From the Latin *praemeditor*, from *prae-* ("before") and *meditor* ("to think over, contemplate"), first attested in English in the 1540s. Unlike "improvise," which is to act spontaneously without prior thought, or "scheme," which implies a secretive and intricate plot, to premeditate is to place a cold, deliberate frame around a future act. It is the measured selection of a weapon from a locked drawer, the precise lie practiced in the mirror, the patient waiting for the perfect, deserted moment—the conscious grafting of future consequence onto present intention, one silent brick at a time.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin praemeditātus, past participle of praemeditor (“to premeditate”). By surface analysis, pre- + meditate.
verb
- To meditate, consider, or plan beforehand; to think about and revolve in the mind beforehand.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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