pensive

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

adj. thoughtful, reflective, meditative, musing; melancholy, sad, dejected. See thought, dejection.

II

(Roget's IV) modif.

Syn. ruminating, meditative, contemplative, reflective, thoughtful, ruminative, serious, musing, dreamy, wistful, melancholy, abstracted, preoccupied, lost in thought, wrapped in thought; see also thoughtful 1 .

Syn.- pensive suggests a dreamy, often somewhat sad or melancholy concentration of thought [ the pensive look in her eye ] ; contemplative implies intent concentration of thought, as on some abstract matter, often connoting this as a habitual practice [ a contemplative scholar ] ; reflective suggests an orderly, often analytical turning over in the mind, as of past events, usually with the aim of reaching some definite understanding [ after a reflective pause he answered ] ; meditative implies a quiet and sustained musing, without necessarily having a definite intention of understanding or reaching a conclusion [ a meditative walk in the cloister ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) (VOCABULARY WORD) a.

[PEN siv]

in deep thought, especially about sad things.

We remained pensive long after the funeral.

SYN.: deep in thought, meditative, contemplative, melancholy, withdrawn, ruminative, troubled, wistful, brooding.

ANT.: carefree, untroubled

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective Of, characterized by, or disposed to thought: cogitative, contemplative, deliberative, excogi-tative, meditative, reflective, ruminative, speculative, thinking, thoughtful. Idiom: in a brown study. See THOUGHTS.