pensive
/ˈpɛnsɪv
/adjective
Engaged in, involving, or reflecting deep or serious thought: a pensive mood...
- He was still a serious pensive boy but slightly older, he didn't run so much, nor did he stare around him.
- The eerie stillness of the music and voice reflects the pensive, self-critical nature of the lyric.
- He asked the question as if he were serious, his face pensive as if he were really trying to figure it out.
Synonyms
thoughtful, thinking, reflective, contemplative, musing, meditative, introspective, prayerful, philosophical, cogitative, ruminative, absorbed, engrossed, rapt, preoccupied, deep/immersed/lost in thought, in a brown study, broody, serious, studious, solemn, dreamy, dreaming;
wistful, brooding, melancholy, sad
rare ruminant
Derivatives
pensively
/ adverb ...- Anita was deep in thought, staring pensively at the grass.
- A little boy is pictured with his hands raised high, eyes looking off camera, lips pursed pensively to show off his adorable chubby cheeks.
- He studies his smoked-salmon starter pensively.
pensiveness
/ noun ...- He sensed her pensiveness though, and called her on it.
- They are joyful images in vibrant greens and yellows, but at the same time they evoke a pensiveness in viewers that some might find hard to shake off.
- Mama, however, did not understand my pensiveness.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French pensif, -ive, from penser 'think', from Latin pensare 'ponder', frequentative of pendere 'weigh'.
Pensive is from Old French pensif from penser ‘to think’: this is via Latin pensare ‘to ponder’ from pendere ‘to weigh’. The notion is of ‘weighing up’ the merits of various options. Ponder (Middle English) ‘to consider, weigh things up’ and ponderous (Late Middle English) ‘weighty’ come from the same root. The flower name pansy also comes from the same source, being the English spelling of the French pensée ‘thought’. This is because of the face-like markings on the flowers, which in old varieties looked as if they were hanging down pensively. See penthouse