pensive Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite deeply or seriously thoughtful;
    broody; ruminative; pondering; brooding; contemplative; musing; meditative; reflective.
    • 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
  2. adjective satellite showing pensive sadness
    wistful.
    • the sensitive and wistful response of a poet to the gentler phases of beauty

WordNet

Pen"sive adjective
Etymology
F. pensif, fr. penser to think, fr. L. pensare to weigh, ponder, consider, v. intens. fr. pendere to weigh. See Pension, Poise.
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913