pensive
/'pensiv/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Deeply or seriously thoughtful: Characterized by or showing deep, often serious, thought or reflection.
- Suggestive of sad thoughtfulness: Having a thoughtful appearance that implies a degree of melancholy or wistfulness.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- She had a pensive expression as she stared out the window.
- The quiet, pensive music suited his mood perfectly.
- He grew pensive after reading the old letter.
Advanced Usage
- "to be in a pensive mood": to be in a state of quiet, reflective thought.
- After the meeting, she was in a pensive mood, considering all the possibilities.
- "a pensive silence": a thoughtful, reflective quiet.
- A pensive silence fell over the group as they contemplated the news.
Variants and Related Words
- Pensively (adverb): In a thoughtful manner, often with a hint of sadness.
- He nodded pensively, not yet ready to speak.
- Pensiveness (noun): The state or quality of being pensive.
- Her face was marked by a deep pensiveness.
Synonyms
- Thoughtful: Engaged in or showing thought.
- Contemplative: Involving, or given to, deep thought.
- Reflective: Characterized by quiet thought or contemplation.
- Wistful: Having or showing a feeling of vague or regretful longing.
Antonyms
- Thoughtless: Lacking in or not showing consideration for others; also, not given to thinking.
- Frivolous: Not having any serious purpose or value.
- Unreflective: Not engaged in or characterized by reflection or thought.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- "lost in pensive thought": completely absorbed in deep, reflective thinking.
- He was lost in pensive thought and didn't hear the doorbell.
Adjective
- showing pensive sadness
- the sensitive and wistful response of a poet to the gentler phases of beauty
- deeply or seriously thoughtful;
- Byron lives on not only in his poetry, but also in his creation of the 'Byronic hero' - the persona of a brooding melancholy young man