Adjective He has lived a quiet, contemplative life. She joined a contemplative order of nuns.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Some invitations were more contemplative, while others were more playful — such as tracing lines in nature with my fingers, or building an art piece with loose pieces of nature collected from the forest floor. Amber Gibson, Chicago Tribune, 12 Sep. 2022 Asked if it could have been coordinated to the benefit of Mr. Zeldin, Mr. Thompson was contemplative.New York Times, 26 July 2022 Even my Sierra life is basically contemplative and not enormously dramatic. David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2022 Obi-Wan is wise, contemplative and highly connected to the Force. Sydney Odman, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 June 2022 The performance is slow, methodical, contemplative and philosophical, in keeping with Rilke’s themes of the interconnectedness of art and life. Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 16 June 2022 But if the expectation for Broadway’s return was a season of spirit-lifting, forget-your-troubles spectacle, Hangmen offers a contemplative and unsparing rejoinder to this, with a twisted view into the nature of justice and revenge. Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 9 June 2022 Evensong, contemplative and resigned, provides the real recurring music of Pym’s world, however fewer ears may be inclining toward it. Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker, 30 May 2022 But, typical of the contemplative front man, there’s more to it than that. Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 30 Nov. 2021
Noun
Stolevski treats every frame with a gentle, Terrence Malick–ian touch, creating a contemplative—and spellbinding—study of the human condition through the eyes of an unconventional subject. David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2022 Being near the most sacred part of the house made a contemplative out of her. Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 3 May 2021 The figures are dressed in a contemporary athletic style that emphasizes their strength, but the posturing is casual and timeless, ranging from contemplative to statuesque. Danielle Avram, Dallas News, 16 Dec. 2020 Harmony is at the heart of plaza life, the communal ties between tables, the whole mishmash crowd in this shifting encampment, taking the sun, contemplatives in the land of commerce. Garrison Keillor, Harper's magazine, 22 July 2019 Regarding cross-checking interpersonal experience, both contemplatives and the texts dealing with the various experiences a meditator might encounter are quite precise in their descriptions. Matthieu Ricard, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2017 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English contemplatif "devoted to or concerned with spiritual meditation," borrowed from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin contemplātīvus, going back to Latin, "theoretical, speculative," from contemplātus, past participle of contemplāre, contemplārī "to look at fixedly, observe, notice, ponder" + -īvus-ive — more at contemplate
Noun
Middle English contemplatyfe "person devoted to spiritual meditation," borrowed from Medieval Latin contemplātīvus, noun derivative of contemplātīvus "devoted to or concerned with spiritual meditation" — more at contemplative entry 1