pensive
adjective
pen·sive
ˈpen(t)-siv 
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
Herman Wouk
pensively
adverb
pensiveness
noun
Synonyms
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
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 on the Web
In the images and short film shot by Glen Luchford and styled by Sarah Richardson, models are seen frolicking around the castle, deserted land and shore of the Welsh wilderness in a pensive mood.
—Hikmat Mohammed, WWD, 6 Feb. 2025
The structure of vacation itself seemed promising, what with all that pensive downtime between activities.
—Chris Colin, AFAR Media, 31 Jan. 2025
The plain, pensive framings are shot through with vectors of power both official and unofficial: pandemic regulations and the administrative tangles around real estate impose one kind of stricture; tradition and ingrained mores provide another.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
At the moment, we are congregated in an oval of elderly metal folding chairs and are all sitting congruently in pensive, supplicant postures—with hunched shoulders and elbows on knees, our fingers steepled contemplatively and pressed against our lips.
—Barrett Swanson, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for pensive 
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Hikmat Mohammed, WWD, 6 Feb. 2025
The structure of vacation itself seemed promising, what with all that pensive downtime between activities.
—Chris Colin, AFAR Media, 31 Jan. 2025
The plain, pensive framings are shot through with vectors of power both official and unofficial: pandemic regulations and the administrative tangles around real estate impose one kind of stricture; tradition and ingrained mores provide another.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
At the moment, we are congregated in an oval of elderly metal folding chairs and are all sitting congruently in pensive, supplicant postures—with hunched shoulders and elbows on knees, our fingers steepled contemplatively and pressed against our lips.
—Barrett Swanson, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for pensive
Dictionary Entries Near pensive
Cite this Entry
“Pensive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pensive. Accessed 16 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pensive
adjective
pen·sive
ˈpen(t)-siv
1
: dreamily thoughtful
2
: suggestive of sad thoughtfulness
pensively
adverb
pensiveness
noun
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