BROODING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does brooding mean? 

• BROODING (noun)
  The noun BROODING has 2 senses:

1. sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the body

2. persistent morbid meditation on a problem

  Familiarity information: BROODING used as a noun is rare.

• BROODING (adjective)
  The adjective BROODING has 1 sense:

1. deeply or seriously thoughtful

  Familiarity information: BROODING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BROODING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sitting on eggs so as to hatch them by the warmth of the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

brooding; incubation

Hypernyms ("brooding" is a kind of...):

birth; birthing; giving birth; parturition (the process of giving birth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Persistent morbid meditation on a problem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

brooding; pensiveness

Hypernyms ("brooding" is a kind of...):

melancholy (a feeling of thoughtful sadness)

• BROODING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deeply or seriously thoughtful

Synonyms:

brooding; broody; contemplative; meditative; musing; pensive; pondering; reflective; ruminative

Context example:

Byron lives on not only in his poetry, but also in his creation of the 'Byronic hero' - the persona of a brooding melancholy young man

Similar:

thoughtful (exhibiting or characterized by careful thought)

 Context examples 

Indeed, his mood was infectious, for I lay tossing half the night myself, brooding over this strange problem, and inventing a hundred theories, each of which was more impossible than the last.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was, for the most part, gay and cheerful with us; but sometimes his eyes rested on her, and he fell into a brooding state, and was silent.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The old man lay back in his chair with a twitching face, and stared at her with brooding eyes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Never mind, you've got the tarlaton for the big party, and you always look like an angel in white," said Amy, brooding over the little store of finery in which her soul delighted.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

All the bottom area round the water-edge was alive with their young ones, and with hideous mothers brooding upon their leathery, yellowish eggs.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Abbot alone sat gray and immutable, with a drawn face and a brooding eye.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My uncle sat with tightened lips and a brooding brow.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I managed to see him on a plausible pretext, but I seemed to read in his dark, deepset, brooding eyes that he was perfectly aware of my true business.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But in his countenance I saw a change: that looked desperate and brooding—that reminded me of some wronged and fettered wild beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and it is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of the brooding weight off his mind.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)