6 uses
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Definition
appearing deep in thought — typically looking sad or serious
- Phoebe, at thirteen, was short for her age, chubby, still impulsive and impassioned, slow to learn but moving from joy to pensiveness to sadness and back to joy with an astonishing speed.p. 221.8
pensiveness = deep thought
(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means state or degree of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)
(Editor's note: The suffix "-ness" converts an adjective to a noun that means state or degree of. This is the same pattern you see in words like darkness, kindness, and coolness.)
- Or Phoebe's soft small hand suddenly on her knee, at a moment when Caroline was pensive or distracted, absorbed by the world and its concerns.p. 162.9
- Rosemary nodded, pensive.p. 313.0
- Then she grew pensive.p. 327.4
- "I almost missed the train," he said, pensive.p. 330.2
- She had her hand tucked around his elbow and was leaning down to speak to him, and he was nodding, pensive, frowning, looking across the gardens, beyond the gates, at whatever she wanted him to note.p. 332.3
There are no more uses of "pensive" in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.
Typical Usage
(best examples)