Contemplation is slow, quiet, serious thinking — sitting with a thing or an idea, looking at it, not rushing to act. Someone may sit in contemplation of the sea, or spend the evening in contemplation after bad news. In religious life, contemplation is close to sitting still in prayer: still attention, often toward God or toward what is. In careful and legal English, 'in contemplation of' means you are seriously lining something up: in contemplation of marriage, in contemplation of a move. Though actually, most people just say 'thinking about it' or 'turning it over.' Contemplation sounds stiller and a little raised, the kind of word a book uses when someone has gone quiet. It is not contempt, which is the cold feeling that someone is worth nothing — they only look similar on the page. And it is not the same as worry: worry loops; contemplation watches.