— pensively , adv. — pensiveness , n.
/pen"siv/ , adj.
1. dreamily or wistfully thoughtful: a pensive mood.
2. expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness: a pensive adagio.
[ 1325-75; pensif penser to think pensare to weigh, consider, deriv. of pensus, ptp. of pendere. See PENSION, -IVE ]
Syn. 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.
Ant. 1. thoughtless.