⚠️ A misleading verb… especially in contracts
The verb to contemplate is a frequent false friend in legal, financial, and business contexts.
Although contemplate can mean to look at attentively or to meditate upon, in legal documents it most often means to envisage, to provide for, or to anticipate an action or situation.
⚖️ In Law and Business: envisager, prévoir
This is the correct rendering in contracts, shareholders’ agreements, letters of intent, or M&A transactions.
Examples:
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The company is contemplating the sale of its European division
→ La société envisage la vente de sa division européenne
-
It did not turn out as contemplated
→ Les choses ne se sont pas passées comme prévu
-
As contemplated under Article 12
→ Tel qu’envisagé à l’article 12
👁️ In Literary or Descriptive Usage: contempler
In a more literary or philosophical context, to contemplate can of course still be translated as contempler, meaning to look at closely or to meditate upon.
But this meaning is rarely encountered in legal or professional documents.
✅ In Summary
| English term |
Correct French translation |
False friend to avoid |
| to contemplate (business/legal) |
envisager, prévoir |
contempler |
| as contemplated by the contract |
tel qu’envisagé par le contrat |
tel que contemplé par le contrat |
| to contemplate the landscape |
contempler le paysage |
— (valid only in literary sense) |
📌 TransLex’s Advice
Before translating to contemplate, always ask:
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Is the document contractual, strategic, or legal?
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Does it refer to an envisaged action, an option under review, or simply an act of visual observation?
👉 In law: to contemplate = envisager, a usage anchored in the general law of contract.
👉 Save contempler for poetry, philosophy… or hiking.
❓ FAQ: translating the verb "to contemplate"
What does "to contemplate" mean in a contract?
In legal, financial and business texts it means to envisage, to provide for, or to anticipate — rendered in French as envisager or prévoir. The literary sense of gazing or musing is almost never what a contract intends.
How is "as contemplated under Article 12" rendered in French?
As tel qu'envisagé à l'article 12. Likewise "the company is contemplating the sale of its European division" becomes la société envisage la vente, and "it did not turn out as contemplated" becomes comme prévu. The verb points to a planned action, not a visual one.
When is "contempler" actually the right French choice?
Only in literary or philosophical writing — contempler le paysage, to gaze or meditate at length. That descriptive meaning rarely surfaces in professional documents, where envisager remains the safe and idiomatic equivalent.
