Origin: 1325–75; < F (fem.); r. ME
pensif < MF (masc.), deriv. of
penser to think < L
pēnsāre to weigh, consider, deriv. of
pēnsus, ptp. of
pendere. See pension, -ive 
Related forms: pen⋅sive⋅ly, adverb
pen⋅sive⋅ness, noun
Synonyms:
1. Pensive, meditative, reflective suggest quiet modes of apparent or real thought. Pensive, the weakest of the three, suggests dreaminess or wistfulness, and may involve little or no thought to any purpose: a pensive, faraway look. Meditative involves thinking of certain facts or phenomena, perhaps in the religious sense of “contemplation,” without necessarily having a goal of complete understanding or of action: meditative but unjudicial. Reflective has a strong implication of orderly, perhaps analytic, processes of thought, usually with a definite goal of understanding: a careful and reflective critic.
Antonyms:
1. thoughtless.