pensive

American  

[pen-siv] / ˈpɛn sɪv /

adjective

1. dreamily or wistfully thoughtful.

   a pensive mood.

   Antonyms:

   thoughtless

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

   a pensive adagio.

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pensive British  

/ ˈpɛnsɪv /

adjective

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

2. expressing or suggesting pensiveness

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Related Words

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.

Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of pensive

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

Example Sentences

Or it could simply indicate that collectors feel safer splurging on a household-name artist like Rembrandt, a Renaissance man famed for his pensive, realistic self-portraits in earthen hues.

From The Wall Street Journal

A few blocks inland, the vibes are less pensive, more effusive at the Fleuria — Los Angeles’ first romance book truck.

From Los Angeles Times

On Thorns, the pensive opening song of The Clearing, she even berates herself for "making a song and dance" about the break-up that inspired Wolf Alice's previous album, Blue Weekend.

From BBC

“Flashing fish, lavish lily, megalomaniacal mosquito, pensive poet,” goes his thinking.

From The Wall Street Journal

And here's the thing: while they are all winners, they had the demeanour of those with pensive worry.

From BBC

Related Words

• contemplative
• dreamy
• sober
• thoughtful
• wistful