ruminative.

Inclined to revisit the same thoughts or concerns without easily moving beyond them.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• ruminative thinking
• ruminative mood

On the page

His ruminative thoughts returned to the unfinished conversation.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Comparative more ruminative; superlative most ruminative when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, behavior. Commonness: uncommon.