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View synonyms for contemplative

contemplative

[ kuhn-tem-pluh-tiv, kon-tuhm-pley-, -tem- ]

adjective

  1. given to or characterized by contemplation:

    a contemplative mind.

    Synonyms: meditative, reflective, thoughtful



noun

  1. a person devoted to contemplation, as a monk.

contemplative

/ -təm-; kənˈtɛmplə-; ˈkɒntɛmˌpleɪtɪv /

adjective

  1. denoting, concerned with, or inclined to contemplation; meditative
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. a person dedicated to religious contemplation or to a way of life conducive to this
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈcontemˌplatively, adverb
  • ˈcontemˌplativeness, noun
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Other Words From

  • con·templa·tive·ly adverb
  • con·templa·tive·ness noun
  • noncon·templa·tive adjective
  • noncon·templa·tive·ly adverb
  • noncon·templa·tive·ness noun
  • uncon·templa·tive adjective
  • uncon·templa·tive·ly adverb
  • uncon·templa·tive·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of contemplative1

First recorded in 1300–50; from Latin contemplātīvus, from contemplāt(us) “surveyed, observed” ( contemplate ) + -īvus -ive; replacing Middle English contemplatif, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above
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Example Sentences

This year’s Broccoli City headliner is Lil Baby, the deft Georgia rapper who does his finest work in intimate chirps and contemplative squeaks.

Instead, the book is an unnerving, contemplative look at solitude and the connections we make with the outside world.

From Time

Stowaway pulls plenty of pages from the generic space-movie handbook, but it still builds a mood of dread and contemplative ennui, finding its resolution in a final, somber shot.

From Time

The reader gets to know this contemplative narrator through a series of vignettes that showcase her witty observational skills and Lahiri’s piercing prose.

From Time

One exterior path will mimic a mountain climb, while the other will provide access to more contemplative outdoor spaces, for reading, chilling or checking email.

But it was that period in her life, when her career was just taking shape, that produces her most contemplative answers.

I found their melancholy inviting and I appreciated their contemplative, lonely world.

Though the scene is spare, the effect is powerful: bright, solemn, contemplative.

Scott's film is less contemplative and more grounded than McCarthy's script, with most of the philosophical digressions excised.

But which I think has been slightly overstated – there's a contemplative upside to living in and among minimal sculptural forms.

Thereafter he went into a contemplative frame of mind to the docks, and found Sam Blake as usual in his bunk.

An upright, phlegmatic man who finally led the contemplative life of one of the ancient hermits.

It was Tanqueray who kept on looking at him with clear, contemplative eyes under brows no longer irritable.

He was merely a friend of her aunt's, and from that contemplative position he never stepped down.

The fish will regard with contemplative indifference every other lure but a close imitation of that particular insect.

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contemplationcontemplative order