Hypertext Webster Gateway: "pensive"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
The pensive secrecy of desert cell. --Milton.
Anxious cares the pensive nymph oppressed. --Pope.
2. Expressing or suggesting thoughtfulness with sadness; as,
pensive numbers. --Prior.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
pensive
adj 1: persistently or morbidly thoughtful [syn: {brooding}, {broody},
{contemplative}, {meditative}, {musing}, {pondering},
{reflective}, {ruminative}]
2: showing pensive sadness; "the sensitive and wistful response
of a poet to the gentler phases of beauty" [syn: {wistful}]
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