Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- concerted thought or reflection; meditation; contemplation: After hours of cogitation he came up with a new proposal.
- the faculty of thinking: She was a serious student and had a great power of cogitation.
- a thought; design or plan: to jot down one’s cogitations.
c.1200, “thought, idea, notion,” from Old French cogitacion “thought, consideration, reflection,” from Latin cogitationem (nominative cogitatio), noun of action from past participle stem of cogitare “to think, reflect, consider, turn over in the mind,” apparently from co-agitare, from com- “together” (see co-) + agitare, here in a sense of “to turn over in the mind,” literally “to put in constant motion, drive, impel,” frequentative of agere “to move, drive” (see agitation).