Edit page | Page history | Printable version

pensive

1. Thoughtful, sober, or sad; employed in serious reflection; given to, or favorable to, earnest or melancholy musing. The pensive secrecy of desert cell. (milton) Anxious cares the pensive nymph oppressed. (pope)

2. Expressing or suggesting thoughtfulness with sadness; as, pensive numbers.

Origin: F. Pensif, fr. Penser to think, fr. L. Pensare to weigh, ponder, consider, v. Intens. Fr. Pendere to weigh. See Pension, Poise.