Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Oct 21, 2020
This week’s theme
Words that appear to be coined after presidential candidates

This week’s words
bident
trumpery
pensive
devi
joe

“You have to fall in love with hanging around words.” ~John Ciardi
Spread the love to friends & family
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

pensive

PRONUNCIATION:
(PEN-siv)

MEANING:
adjective: Sadly thoughtful; wistful.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Old French pensif (pensive), from penser (to think), from Latin pensare (ponder), frequentative of pendere (to weigh). Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which also gave us pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, spontaneous, vilipend, pendulous, ponderous, filipendulous, equipoise, perpend, and prepend. Earliest documented use: 1393.

USAGE:
“When we met last spring, I expected the Belfast-born investor ... to be elated. Instead, I found him to be pensive and almost post-traumatic.”
Dearbhail McDonald; ‘Nama Nearly Destroyed Me’ -- Top London Hotelier; Sunday Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Sep 18, 2016.

See more usage examples of pensive in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals, the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great creative scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned if at all. -Martin Gardner, mathematician and writer (21 Oct 1914-2010)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith