pensive

[pen-siv]

adjective

1. dreamily or wistfully thoughtful.

   a pensive mood.

   Antonyms: thoughtless

2. expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness.

   a pensive adagio.

pensive

/ ˈpɛnsɪv /

adjective

1. deeply or seriously thoughtful, often with a tinge of sadness

2. expressing or suggesting pensiveness

Other Word Forms

• pensiveness noun
• pensively adverb
• overpensive adjective
• overpensively adverb
• overpensiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pensive¹

First recorded in 1325–75; from French (feminine); replacing Middle English pensif, from Middle French (masculine), from pens(er) “to think” (from Latin pēnsāre “to consider, weigh,” literally, “to hang repeatedly,” from pendere “to cause to hang, consider, weigh”) + -if -ive

Word History and Origins

Origin of pensive¹

C14: from Old French pensif, from penser to think, from Latin pensāre to consider; compare _pension ¹

Synonym Study

Pensive , meditative , reflective suggest quiet modes of apparent or real thought. Pensive , the weakest of the three, suggests dreaminess or wistfulness, and may involve little or no thought to any purpose: a pensive, faraway look. Meditative involves thinking of certain facts or phenomena, perhaps in the religious sense of “contemplation,” without necessarily having a goal of complete understanding or of action: meditative but unjudicial. Reflective has a strong implication of orderly, perhaps analytic, processes of thought, usually with a definite goal of understanding: a careful and reflective critic.

Example Sentences

All this leaves the prime minister and those around him humbled, bruised, reflective, pensive.

From BBC

In such an intimate, pensive atmosphere, characters emerge gradually out of the rugged landscape like windswept trees or weathered stones.

From Los Angeles Times

For a few seconds, save for a piano playing a few pensive notes, there was silence.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s pensive and introspective about what was and what will be, much like Luna in this moment of his career on one of TV’s biggest shows.

From Los Angeles Times

Frank, meanwhile, was quiet and pensive in his technical area.

From BBC

Related Words

• contemplative 
• dreamy 
• sober 
• thoughtful 
• wistful