Synonyms for reflective
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Pensive — pondering, especially thinking back on the past
pensive, musing, contemplative, ruminative, meditative, thoughtful, pondering, wistful, brooding, broody, thoughty dated UK
Other
reflecting, reflexive, careful, considerate, retrospective, autocritical
Definitions
- adj. 1
Pondering, especially thinking back on the past.
He always becomes reflective in preparation for the new year.
Related words
- Word family
- reflectiveness reflectivity
Example sentences
- contemplative His face looks very serious and contemplative.
- pensive In the window sat a girl with a pensive face.
- reflecting Can you help me in reflecting on my own character?
- retrospective Kirsty went to the art gallery to see the Matisse retrospective.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| reflective | rising | |
| contemplative | rising | |
| pensive | rising | |
| musing | rising | |
| ruminative | rising | |
| reflecting | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 6 letters
- musing2, broody2
- 7 letters
- careful2, wistful2, pensive2
- 8 letters
- brooding2, thoughty
- 9 letters
- pondering3, reflexive3
- 10 letters
- reflecting3, thoughtful2, meditative4, ruminative
- 11 letters
- considerate4
- 12 letters
- autocritical
- 13 letters
- retrospective4, contemplative4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (musing2 = 2 syllables).