From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcontemplativecon‧tem‧pla‧tive1 /kənˈtemplətɪv, ˈkɒntəmpleɪtɪv $ kən-, ˈkɑːntem-/ adjective THINK ABOUTspending a lot of time thinking seriously and quietly → reflective a contemplative mood —contemplatively adverb
Examples from the Corpus
contemplative• The mood is contemplative and cool, even introspective; associations are immediately religious.• Unlike the contemplative Hawthorne, Dickens could not wait to see the Falls.• Yo mumbles to herself at the windows outlining her hairline with a contemplative index finger.• This ideal of an essential continuity between active and contemplative life is often worked out in practice in terms of their opposition.• a contemplative life• History, the extension of human memory through time, is a contemplative luxury of advanced civilizations.• Woosnam and Olazabal have been in more contemplative mood after further moderate performances in New Orleans.• They are all from the contemplative, strict and enclosed Order of the Carmelite in Darlington and are repeating history.contemplativecontemplative2 noun [countable] formal RRsomeone who spends their life thinking deeply about religious mattersExamples from the Corpus
contemplative• But the best contemplatives are superior to the best actives.• But even though his book was intended for contemplatives, it was also widely read by lay men and women.• On the other hand contemplatives are almost always enjoying the embrace of their Beloved.• They signal this for those who are not contemplatives and reflect it for those who are.• Taken together, they resemble the range of altered perceptions reported by yogis, Zen masters, and other contemplatives.• True there are many actives who are better than some contemplatives.• The contemplatives, however, with whom Scale 2 is chiefly concerned, go further into reformation in feeling. 