(no subject)

pen·sive
adj.
Deeply, often wistfully or dreamily thoughtful.
Suggestive or expressive of melancholy thoughtfulness.


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[Middle English pensif, from Old French, from penser, to think, from Latin pnsre, frequentative of pendere, to weigh. See (s)pen- in Indo-European Roots.]
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pensive·ly adv.
pensive·ness n.
Synonyms: pensive, contemplative, reflective, meditative, thoughtful
These adjectives mean characterized by or disposed to thought, especially serious or deep thought. Pensive often connotes a wistful, dreamy, or sad quality: “while pensive poets painful vigils keep” (Alexander Pope). Contemplative implies slow directed consideration, often with conscious intent of achieving better understanding or spiritual or aesthetic enrichment: “The Contemplative Atheist is rare... And yet they seem to be more than they are” (Francis Bacon). Reflective suggests careful analytical deliberation, as in reappraising past experience: “Cromwell was of the active, not the reflective temper” (John Morley). Meditative implies earnest sustained thought: The scholar was reticent, aloof, and meditative. Thoughtful can refer to absorption in thought or to the habit of reflection and circumspection: Thoughtful voters carefully considered the candidates.