contemplative

/kənˈtɛmplətɪv/US/kənˈtɛmplətɪv/

contemplative adjective: inclined to contemplate; introspective and thoughtful; meditative.

Adjective

contemplative (comparative more contemplative, superlative most contemplative)

Inclined to contemplate; introspective and thoughtful; meditative.
- Compared with the greatest poets, he may be said to be the poet of unpoetical natures, possessed of quiet and contemplative tastes. But unpoetical natures are precisely those which require poetic cultivation. This cultivation Wordsworth is much more fitted to give, than poets who are intrinsically...1873, John Stuart Mill, chapter 5, in Autobiography
Pertaining to a religious contemplative, or a contemplative religious orders, especially the Roman Catholic varieties.
- Whether the nuns of yore, being of a submissive rather than a stiff-necked generation, habitually bent their contemplative heads to avoid collision with the beams in the low ceilings of the many chambers of their House [...] may be matters of interest to its haunting ghosts (if any), but constitute...1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, “'”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC
Relating to, or having the power of, contemplation.
- contemplative faculties
In a phase of mental activity in which one begins to recognize and acknowledge the maladaptiveness of someone's behavior (such as one's own, or that of a family member or friend); usually with reference to substance use.

contemplative (plural contemplatives)

Someone who has dedicated themselves to religious or philosophical contemplation.
- Like the white page that surrounds the darkness of each letter you are reading here, eternity surrounds each heartbeat, and as the contemplative watches his breath, he can move out of time through the doorway which opens in the interval between each heartbeat.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 10
- The contemplative must not expect exotic feelings, visions or heavenly voices; these did not come from God but from his own fevered imagination and would merely distract him from his true objective [...].2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 112

inclined to contemplate; introspective and thoughtful; meditative: ध्यानशील dhyānśīl, ध्यानी dhyānī, मननशील mananśīl, विचारशील vicārśīl, चिंतनशील cintanśīl

reflective, thoughtful, pensive: ചിന്താപര, ചിന്താനിരതമായ, ചിന്തയിലാണ്ട, പരിചിന്തനം ചെയ്യുന്ന, ചിന്താമഗ്നമായ, ധ്യാനിക്കുന്ന

inclined to contemplate; introspective and thoughtful; meditative: kontemplatibo

His writings are both mature and playful, contemplative and punchliney.
These studies in qene demand great concentration as well as a contemplative spirit.
It was possible to be both a contemplative and an administrator.

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

From Middle English contemplatyve, contemplatyf, from Old French contemplatif, from Latin contemplātīvus.

What does contemplative mean?: Contemplative means inclined to contemplate; introspective and thoughtful; meditative.
What is contemplative in Hindi?: Contemplative in Hindi is ध्यानशील (dhyānśīl), ध्यानी (dhyānī), मननशील (mananśīl). See Contemplative meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is contemplative?: Contemplative can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce contemplative?: Contemplative is pronounced /kənˈtɛmplətɪv/ (UK).

Adapted from Wiktionary: contemplative (page history and authors); contemplative (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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Cite this entry: “contemplative.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contemplative. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.