thoughtful

thoughtful

adjective

Definition of THOUGHTFUL

1

given to or made with heedful anticipation of the needs and happiness of others <a thoughtful offer to watch the neighbors' children on moving day> <a thoughtful manager who understands that people's families should be more important than their jobs>

Synonyms attentive, considerate, kind, solicitous

Related Words brotherly, good, good-hearted, helpful, hospitable, kindhearted, kindly, neighborly, nice; caring, compassionate, sympathetic, tender; chivalrous, courteous, courtly, gallant, gracious, polite; diplomatic, tactful; deferential, dutiful, obliging, regardful, respectful; altruistic, beneficent, benevolent, benignant, humane, selfless, unselfish; charitable, generous, magnanimous

Near Antonyms inattentive, uncaring, unheeding; inhospitable, unkind, unkindly; ill-bred, ill-mannered, impolite, rude, uncivil, unmannerly; unhelpful; malevolent, malicious, mean, spiteful

Antonyms heedless, inconsiderate, thoughtless, unthinking

2

decided on as a result of careful thought <a thoughtful argument for military action>

Synonyms advised, calculated, considered, knowing, measured, reasoned, studied, thoughtful, thought-out, weighed

Related Words aforethought, premeditated, prepense; educated, informed; intentional, purposeful; designed, intended, planned, projected; careful, meticulous; foresighted, forethoughtful, provident, prudent

Near Antonyms half-cocked, ill-advised; chance, haphazard, hit-or-miss, random; aimless, desultory, purposeless; hasty, hurried, rushed; abrupt, impetuous, sudden; automatic, extemporaneous, impromptu, instinctive, spontaneous

Antonyms casual, unadvised, uncalculated, unconsidered, unstudied

3

given to or marked by long, quiet thinking <was a quiet and thoughtful child who rarely spoke but when he did, he almost always had something worthwhile to say>

Synonyms broody, cogitative, meditative, melancholy, musing, pensive, reflective, ruminant, ruminative, thoughtful

Related Words introspective, retrospective, self-reflective; earnest, grave, sedate, serious, serious-minded, severe, sober, solemn, somber (or sombre), weighty; philosophical (also philosophic); analytic (or analytical), logical, rational; deliberate, purposeful; absentminded, abstracted, preoccupied

Near Antonyms featherbrained, flighty, flippant, frivolous, goofy, harebrained, light-headed, scatterbrained; brainless, mindless, silly, thoughtless, unthinking

Antonyms unreflective