Meaning & use
Brooded
Last updated
Thought deeply and often gloomily about something; also, sat on eggs to hatch them, as a bird does.
See it in a sentence
He brooded for days over the harsh criticism of his work.
The hen brooded quietly over her clutch of eggs in the barn.
A note on using this word
The figurative sense of dwelling darkly on troubles grew out of the literal image of a bird sitting protectively and unmovingly over its eggs.
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