introspective

adjective

in·​tro·​spec·​tive ˌin-trə-ˈspek-tiv 

: characterized by examination of one's own thoughts and feelings : thoughtfully reflective : employing, marked by, or tending to introspection

As a student, he was very quiet and introspective.

… encouraging a balance between the fast, upbeat songs and a band's more introspective side.

—David T. Lindsay

There's an interesting literature that suggests that when people are sad, they tend to pay attention to themselves. They become withdrawn and introspective and very aware of their body and their mind and not very aware of the external world.

—Peter Salovey

introspectively adverb

This whole episode set me thinking introspectively, and led me gradually but imperatively to self-analysis—not of powers, but of motives.

—Bram Stoker

introspectiveness noun

Introversion is too often considered a sign of weakness when it should instead be an indication of strength, and associated with thoughtfulness, introspectiveness and independence.

—Jasmine Tatah

Examples of introspective in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To really understand the magnitude of this moment, let’s backtrack — the taskmaster planet first entered Pisces in March 2023, submerging the collective into quite the introspective season. —Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025

The author, Dante Alighieri, born in Florence in 1265, is also its leading character—not a warrior as in the Homeric epics or their Latin successor, Virgil’s Aeneid, but, rather, a poet, a flawed and introspective man whose fall into despair sets the drama in motion. —Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025

After a deeply introspective Scorpio Season, Sagittarius Season enters like a spontaneous road trip invitation. —Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 23 Nov. 2025

Damn, Tommy is getting introspective! —William Earl, Variety, 23 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1819, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for introspective

• ineffective
• intellective
• irrespective
• nondirective
• nonselective
• retrospective
• unreflective
• advective
• affective
• collective
• connective
• convective