Contemplate - meaning and usage

Question

Dictionary lists out the following meanings and usages of the word "contemplate"

Verb 1. If you contemplate an action, you think about whether to do it
or not. Verb 2: If you contemplate an idea or subject, you think about
it carefully for a long time. Verb 3: If you contemplate something or
someone, you look at them for a long time.He contemplated his hands,
still frowning.contemplation UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
He was lost in the contemplation of the landscape for a while.

I came across in a script, where the writer uses the word contemplate to convey the meaning "with thoughts about someone"

She deeply contemplated her dying brother. (this brother is not before
her. He is far away in a different city. She leaves immediately to see
him after this)

Is it right to use this word in this particular context? From what I understand from the dictionary, when you contemplate someone, you actually look at them for a long time.

rhetorician · Accepted Answer

The word contemplated is not used correctly in the following sentence:

She deeply contemplated her dying brother.

If her brother had died, she could contemplate her brother's death. That would mean she thought deeply about what his death meant.
Although wordy, the sentence could also read

She deeply contemplated the fact that her brother was dying.

Personally, I steer clear of "the fact that" habit, so a better version of the sentence could go

She deeply contemplated the inevitability of her brother's death.

Or,

She deeply contemplated her brother's dying.

In other words, she thought deeply about the process of dying that her brother was experiencing and the effect it was having on her and him.
In short, a person cannot deeply contemplate a person. On the other hand, a person can contemplate an aspect of a person, or something a person has done or said. That's about as technical, grammatically, as I can get.

Contemplate - meaning and usage

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