pensive

adjective pen·sive \ ˈpen(t)-siv \

|Updated on: 8 Jun 2018

Examples: pensive in a Sentence

Definition of pensive

1 : musingly or dreamily thoughtful

a pensive young poet

2 : suggestive of sad thoughtfulness

her face had the pensive mournfulness of a seraph in an old sad painting
—Herman Wouk

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pensively

adverb

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pensiveness

noun

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Examples of pensive in a Sentence

… the combination of national crisis and imminent electoral victory creates an atmosphere at once pensive and elated. —Yossi Klein Halevi, New Republic, 25 Dec. 2000
We take in the synchronized swimming of sardines and the pensive patrol of a leopard shark. —Roger Rosenblatt, Time, 5 Oct. 1998
… did not seem depressed so much as pensive, and within a few minutes he was talking eagerly—in fact, unstoppably—about his favorite subject: school. —James Traub, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 1994
The child sat by himself, looking pensive.
rainy days often put her in a pensive mood

Recent Examples of pensive from the Web

As a result, Clay is often seen looking pensive, quiet and expressionless.

— kevin o'keefe, chicagotribune.com, "‘13 Reasons Why,’ Season 2, argues for its existence," 16 May 2018
In Media’s production, Jeff Sundheim is a full-voiced and pensive presence as Jack Kelly, the 16-year-old strike leader.

— hugh hunter, Philly.com, "'Newsies' at Media Theatre teems with energy," 14 May 2018
Her father is pensive by nature and uncomfortable around other people, and while there’s good will on both sides, his rapport with his daughter is far from effortless.

— emily st. john mandel, New York Times, "The Mysterious ‘Parking Lot Attendant’ at the Center of a Web of Intrigue," 4 May 2018
The defiant, pensive reputation dropped in November, and Swift launched her stadium tour this month.

— rebecca farley, refinery29.com, "Taylor Swift Appeared At Her First Awards Show In Years & Had Some Things To Say," 21 May 2018
On the back wall, a pensive woman enfolded in a flowing blue dress sews together a swatch of green fabric that has been ripped in two.

— jonathan kauffman, San Francisco Chronicle, "Exile in the Tenderloin: The quest for a future at San Francisco’s only Sudanese cafe," 17 May 2018
In most performances, the return of that stately, pensive music after the preceding boisterousness has a jarring effect.

— alex ross, The New Yorker, "The Rebel Harpsichordists," 14 May 2018
MoMA received more than 50 artworks, including Paul Cézanne’s 1888–90 pensive portrait Boy in a Red Vest, which was originally owned by Monet and likely would have sold for more than $200 million.

— kelly crow, WSJ, "Will the Rockefeller Collection be the First Art Auction to Top $1 Billion?," 11 Apr. 2018
Coppola seized on Eugenides’s idea of the story as a memory being relayed by an older generation—a group of grown men reflecting on an incident from their youth—and suffused the whole film with that pensive feeling.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Why The Virgin Suicides Is Still So Resonant Today," 26 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pensive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of pensive

Middle English pensif, from Anglo-French, from penser to think, from Latin pensare to ponder, frequentative of pendere to weigh — more at pendant

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year