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.
© Webster 1913.