Brood: meaning, example and synonyms
Broodv. To think deeply and unhappily about something, often for a long time.
Example
Rather than brooding over the rejected manuscript, the novelist reread the editor's criticisms and began revising the opening chapters.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- dwell, fret, mope, ruminate
- Antonyms
- forget, dismiss, rejoice
- Memory tip
- A hen broods on eggs; a gloomy person broods on a worry for hours.
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Check yourself: Brood in context
For weeks after losing the election, the candidate ______ over his mistakes, replaying each debate in his mind and speaking to almost no one.
Answer: brooded. Replaying mistakes unhappily for weeks is brooding. Gleaned (gathered bit by bit), emulated (imitated) and thwarted (blocked) don't describe gloomy dwelling.
The poem's speaker sits alone by the fire and ______ on a friendship that ended badly, unable to stop asking what she might have said differently.
Answer: broods. Sitting alone, unhappily turning over a lost friendship, is brooding. Gleans, emulates and constricts don't describe gloomy, repetitive thought.