Meaning & use
brood
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To think for a long time about something that makes you unhappy or worried, without taking action.
Grammar: No object; usually followed by over, on or about: brood over a mistake.
Patterns
- brood over something
- brood about something
- brood on something
He sat alone and brooded over the argument.
Don't brood about the exam; it is finished.
She brooded for days after losing the match.
verbtransitive or intransitivebiology
To sit on eggs to keep them warm until they hatch.
Grammar: A hen broods eggs, or simply broods.
Patterns
- brood eggs
The hen broods her eggs for three weeks.
The penguin broods in freezing wind without moving.
Ducks brood in nests hidden by the reeds.
nouncountable
A group of young birds or other animals hatched or born together to the same mother.
Grammar: Takes a plural: a large brood of chicks; also used humorously for children.
Patterns
- a brood of something
A brood of ducklings followed the mother across the pond.
The farmer counted a brood of ten chicks.
She arrived with her whole brood of children in tow.
nounsingularhumorousinformal
All the children in one family, often said jokingly.
Grammar: Usually singular and humorous: her brood.
Patterns
- her brood
The mother herded her noisy brood into the car.
He had a brood of five to feed.
Word forms
| third person singular | broods |
|---|---|
| past tense | brooded |
| past participle | brooded |
| -ing form | brooding |
| plural | broods |
Common combinations
- brood over
- She tends to brood over small criticisms.
- brood on
- He brooded on his failure all weekend.
- brood about
- Stop brooding about what you cannot change.
- brood of chicks
- A brood of chicks hid under the hen.
- brooding silence
- A brooding silence filled the room.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dwell
- Dwell on something means to keep thinking about it, and it can be neutral, while brood is always gloomy.
- fret
- Fret implies nervous worry about what might happen, while brood is quieter and often angry or sad about the past.
- mope
- Mope suggests visible unhappy behavior, while brood is mainly inner thinking.
- ruminate
- Ruminate is more formal and can mean thinking deeply without sadness, whereas brood is unhappy.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: brood or breed?
brood vs breed
Breed means to produce young or a type of animal, whereas brood means to sit on eggs or think gloomily.
Practice
Rather than ______ over the mistake, she decided to learn from it and move on.
Choose one answer.
Brood over means to think unhappily about something for a long time. Breed relates to animals reproducing and does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “brood”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.