[syn: pensive, wistful]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pensive \Pen"sive\, a. [F. pensif, fr. penser to think, fr. L.
pensare to weigh, ponder, consider, v. intens. fr. pendere to
weigh. See Pension, Poise.]
1. Thoughtful, sober, or sad; employed in serious reflection;
given to, or favorable to, earnest or melancholy musing.
[1913 Webster]
The pensive secrecy of desert cell. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Anxious cares the pensive nymph oppressed. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
2. Expressing or suggesting thoughtfulness with sadness; as,
pensive numbers. --Prior.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
pensive
adj 1: 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";
[syn: brooding, broody, contemplative,
meditative, musing, pensive, pondering,
reflective, ruminative]
2: showing pensive sadness; "the sensitive and wistful response
of a poet to the gentler phases of beauty" [syn: pensive,
wistful]