pensive
/ˈpɛn(t).sɪv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.63 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Engaged in, involving, or reflecting deep or serious thought.
adj
Having the appearance of deep, often melancholic, thinking.
adj
Looking thoughtful, especially from sadness.
Example Sentences
- "He sat in pensive silence, weighing his options carefully."
- "[T]he donkey, pensive, with bowed head, twitching his ears from time to time, thinking the tempest of stones had not yet ended and was still falling around his head […]."
- "The author’s tone grows pensive in the final chapters."
- "Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce"
- "Through the deep grass the faces of the three children glowed like pensive moons."
Etymology
From Middle English pensif, pensyfe, pencyve, from Old French pensif (“thoughtful”), from penser (“to think”) (from Latin pēnsō) + -if (English -ive).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɛn(t).sɪv/
- British English: /ˈpɛn(t).sɪv/
Inflected Forms
more pensive (comparative)
most pensive (superlative)