pensive

UK/ˈpɛn(t).sɪv/US/ˈpɛn(t).sɪv/

adjectiveC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,476 of 15,258neutral

Pensive means deep in thought, and a little sad. A pensive mood, look pensive, pensive and quiet.

The sadness is what separates it from thoughtful, and it is usually read from a face rather than reported by the person. The French behind it is simply to think, so the melancholy was added by English.

Definitions of pensive

1adjectivepensiveDeep in thought, and a little sad.C1
“She sat by the window in a pensive mood, watching the rain.”

pensive is a quality.

Where it comes from

Old French pensif comes from penser, to think, from Latin pensare, to weigh.

Proto-Indo-European
*(s)pend-
Latin
pēnsō
Old French
pensif — thoughtful
Middle English
pensif
English, today
pensive

Built from

penser · Old French — to think

From Middle English pensif, pensyfe, pencyve, from Old French pensif (“thoughtful”), from penser (“to think”) (from Latin pēnsō) + -if (English -ive).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

pensive in the wild

An elegy to Martin Luther King Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics.
MLK (song)
The front of the album cover shows Stevens looking pensive and holding a comedy mask, while the back cover shows Stevens smiling and holding a tragedy mask.
Don't Laugh Now
Of Zulu origin, the name is said to mean "long, bare table-land or ridge," or "pensive," referring to its peaceful setting in the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
Ndwedwe
In all versions, the song keeps a pensive worship style, but One Sonic Society's version is distinctive to the band's individual style.
Forever Reign (song)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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