When muse is used to mean "to think about something carefully or thoroughly," it is usually followed by about, on, over, or upon. The word can also mean "to become absorbed in thought," or "to think or say something in a thoughtful way."

// He mused on the possibility of pursuing a master's degree.

// "I could sell the house," she mused aloud, "but then where would I go?"

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"On a crisp winter's day, 100-year-old Peg Logan sits in her favorite wingback chair in the living room of her Harpswell home. She flips through the pages of an oversized gardening book and muses about the vegetables she'll plant in the spring." — Connie Sage Conner, The Harpswell (Maine) Anchor, 27 Feb. 2025

Muse on this: the word muse comes from the Anglo-French verb muser, meaning "to gape, to idle, to muse." The image evoked is one of a thinker so absorbed in thought as to be unconsciously open-mouthed. Those who muse on their pets' musings might like to know that muser is ultimately from the Medieval Latin noun musus, meaning "mouth of an animal"—also source of the word muzzle. The noun muse, which in lowercase refers to a source of inspiration and when capitalized to one of the sister goddesses of Greek mythology, has no etymological link: that word comes from the Greek Mousa. The ultimate Greek origin of the word museum translates as "of the Muses."