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pensive

[ pen-siv ]
/ ˈpɛn sɪv /
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See synonyms for: pensive / pensively / pensiveness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
dreamily or wistfully thoughtful: a pensive mood.
expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness: a pensive adagio.
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Origin of pensive

1325–75; <French (feminine); replacing Middle English pensif<Middle French (masculine), derivative of penser to think <Latin pēnsāre to weigh, consider, derivative of pēnsus, past participle of pendere.See pension, -ive

synonym study for pensive

1. 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 WORDS FROM pensive

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pensive in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pensive

pensive
/ (ˈpɛnsɪv) /

adjective
deeply or seriously thoughtful, often with a tinge of sadness
expressing or suggesting pensiveness

Derived forms of pensive

pensively, adverbpensiveness, noun

Word Origin for pensive

C14: from Old French pensif, from penser to think, from Latin pensāre to consider; compare pension 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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