Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Contemplative |
ContemplativeAdjective1. Persistently or morbidly thoughtful. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "contemplative" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: ContemplativeSynonyms: brooding (adj), broody (adj), meditative (adj), musing (adj), pensive (adj), pondering (adj), reflective (adj), ruminative (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Thought | Adjective: thinking; Verb: thoughtful, pensive, meditative, reflective, museful, wistful, contemplative, speculative, deliberative, studious, sedate, introspective, Platonic, philosophical. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Contemplative |
| English words defined with "contemplative": Contemplatively, Conversative ♦ retrospectively. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "contemplative": tortoise. (references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Contemplative kimba" by Jim Robinson Commentary: "One of the only times I've seen this dog at a stand still unless he is asleep! ** if you download, please leave a comment, I would love to know what I'm doing right or wrong. I'm new at this photog thing." | "_contemplative2" by Tom Bodor Commentary: "Contemplative." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TORTOISE, n. A creature thoughtfully created to supply occasion for the following lines by the illustrious Ambat Delaso: TO MY PET TORTOISE My friend, you are not graceful -- not at all; Your gait's between a stagger and a sprawl. Nor are you beautiful: your head's a snake's To look at, and I do not doubt it aches. As to your feet, they'd make an angel weep. 'Tis true you take them in whene'er you sleep. No, you're not pretty, but you have, I own, A certain firmness -- mostly you're [sic] backbone. Firmness and strength (you have a giant's thews) Are virtues that the great know how to use -- I wish that they did not; yet, on the whole, You lack -- excuse my mentioning it -- Soul. So, to be candid, unreserved and true, I'd rather you were I than I were you. Perhaps, however, in a time to be, When Man's extinct, a better world may see Your progeny in power and control, Due to the genesis and growth of Soul. So I salute you as a reptile grand Predestined to regenerate the land. Father of Possibilities, O deign To accept the homage of a dying reign! In the far region of the unforeknown I dream a tortoise upon every throne. I see an Emperor his head withdraw Into his carapace for fear of Law; A King who carries something else than fat, Howe'er acceptably he carries that; A President not strenuously bent On punishment of audible dissent -- Who never shot (it were a vain attack) An armed or unarmed tortoise in the back; Subject and citizens that feel no need To make the March of Mind a wild stampede; All progress slow, contemplative, sedate, And "Take your time" the word, in Church and State. O Tortoise, 'tis a happy, happy dream, My glorious testudinous regime! I wish in Eden you'd brought this about By slouching in and chasing Adam out. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Contemplative" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Contemplative" is used about 221 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 221 | 20,297 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
contemplative prayer | 50 |
contemplative outreach | 14 |
contemplative | 10 |
contemplative nun | 7 |
contemplative life | 3 |
contemplative dominican nun | 3 |
art contemplative | 2 |
contemplative order | 2 |
contemplation contemplative prayer | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "contemplative"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | soditës (bystander, voyeur), meditues (meditative, speculative), ëndërrimtar (daydreamer, dreamy, illusionist, lotus eater, star gazer, utopian). (various references) | |
Arabic | متصوف (mystic, sufi), تأملي (meditative, reflective, speculative), المتصوف (mystic). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | съзерцателен (meditative), отдаден на съзерцание, замислен (abstracted, broody, grave, immersed in thought, intended, meditative, pensive, preoccupied, reflective, ruminant, thoughtful, wistful). (various references) | |
Chinese | 沉思 (Pensive). (various references) | |
Czech | rozjímavý (meditative). (various references) | |
Dutch | contemplatief, beschouwend, beschouwelýk. (various references) | |
Esperanto | kontempla. (various references) | |
Farsi | وابسته به غوروتعمق , تفکری . (various references) | |
French | contemplatif. (various references) | |
German | nachdenklich (contemplatively, meditative, meditatively, pensive, ruminative, thoughtful, thoughtfully, thought-provoking), beschaulich (introspective, inward-looking, pensive, placid, quiet, tranquil), besinnlich (thoughtful, thought-provoking). (various references) | |
Greek | σκεπτικόσ (broody, cogitative, pensive, reflective, ruminant, ruminative, sceptic, sceptical, skeptical, speculative, thoughtful, wistful), συλλογιζόμενος (reflective), στοχαστικόσ (reflective, ruminative), στοχαστικός (stochastic), περισυλλογιστικός. (various references) | |
Hebrew | שקוע בהרהורים. (various references) | |
Hungarian | szemlélődő (contemplating), kontemplative, elmélkedő (contemplating, meditative, pondering, reflective, ruminative, speculative). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tafakur (meditation). (various references) | |
Italian | contemplativo, meditativo (meditative). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 思索的 (meditative). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しさくてき (meditative). (various references) | |
Korean | 명상 (meditation). (various references) | |
Manx | sursmooinaghtagh. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ontemplativecay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | contemplativo, pensativo (cogitative, pensive, thoughtful), meditabundo (grave, meditative, pensive). (various references) | |
Romanian | contemplativ (contemplatively, meditative, meditatively, speculative), speculativ (notional, speculative). (various references) | |
Russian | созерцательный (meditative). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | posmatrački, mislilački, kontemplativan (meditative). (various references) | |
Spanish | contemplativo. (various references) | |
Swedish | tankfull (pensive, reflective, thoughtful, wistful), kontemplativ, fundersam (hesitative, meditative, pensive, thoughtful), begrundande (cogitation, cogitative, contemplation). (various references) | |
Turkish | dini düşüncelere dalmış, düşünceye dalmış (engrossed, immersed in thought, lost, plunged in thought). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | споглядальний (meditative, theoretic), задумливий (broody, museful, pensive, ruminant, wistful). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | trầm ngâm (meditatingly, musing, pensive, ruminant), nhà tu hành, lặng ngắm tu hành. (various references) | |
Welsh | myfyrgar (studious). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | theoretikos. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | theoricus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "contemplative": contemplatively, contemplativeness, contemplativenesses, contemplatives. (additional references) | |
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"Contemplative" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: comtemplative, contemplateive, contemplativa, contemplatyf. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "contemplative" (pronounced kunte"mplutiv) |
| 6 | -p l u t i v | expletive. |
| 5 | -l u t i v | cumulative, noncumulative, relative, speculative, superlative. |
| 4 | -u t i v | accusative, acquisitive, additive, affirmative, alliterative, alternative, anticompetitive, argumentative, causative, cognitive, commemorative, communicative, comparative, competitive, consecutive, conservative, consultative, curative, decorative, definitive, degenerative, demonstrative, derivative, diminutive, dispositive, duplicative, evocative, executive, exploitative, Federative, figurative, fixative, formative, fugitive, generative, hypersensitive, illustrative, imaginative, imperative, indicative, infinitive, informative, initiative, inoperative, inquisitive, insensitive, interpretive, intuitive, laxative, lucrative, narrative, negative, neoconservative, noncompetitive, nonexecutive, normative, nutritive, operative, palliative, participative, pejorative, positive, prerogative, preservative, preventative, primitive, prohibitive, provocative, punitive, putative, recuperative, remunerative, rep, repetitive, representative, restorative, secretive, sedative, sensitive, talkative, tentative, ultraconservative, uncompetitive, uncooperative, unimaginative, uninformative, unrepresentative, vituperative. |
| 3 | -t i v | accommodative, abortive, accumulative, active, adaptive, addictive, adjective, administrative, adoptive, affective, appointive, appreciative, assaultive, assertive, attentive, attractive, authoritative, automotive, captive, collaborative, collective, combative, conductive, congestive, connective, constructive, contraceptive, cooperative, corrective, corruptive, counterproductive, creative, deceptive, defective, deliberative, descriptive, destructive, detective, digestive, dilutive, directive, disincentive, disparages, disruptive, dissipative, distinctive, distributive, effective, elective, elucidative, eruptive, exhaustive, exploitive, facultative, festive, furtive, hyperactive, imitative, inactive, inattentive, incentive, ineffective, infective, injunctive, innovative, instinctive, instructive, interactive, introspective, invective, inventive, investigative, irrespective, iterative, legislative, locomotive, manipulative, meditative, motive, native, nonautomotive, nonnative, nonproductive, objective, obstructive, octave, overactive, perceptive, perspective, photoconductive, plaintive, predictive, preemptive, presumptive, preventive, proactive, probative, productive, prognosticative, projective, prospective, protective, qualitative, quantitative, radioactive, reactive, receptive, reconstructive, redemptive, redistributive, reflective, refractive, regulative, rehabilitative, reproductive, respective, restive, restrictive, retroactive, retrospective, seductive, selective, stimulative, subjective, substantive, suggestive, superconductive, supportive, unattractive, unproductive, unreceptive, vegetative, vindictive. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-i-l-m-n-o-p-t-t-v" | |
-2 letters: contemplate. | |
-3 letters: colemanite, completive, incomplete. | |
-4 letters: cattlemen, competent, complaint, compliant, elevation, emittance, impotence, melanotic, pectinate, petiolate, placement, policeman, policemen, potential, ventilate. | |
-5 letters: antelope, antipole, anviltop, coinmate, complain, compleat, complete, compline, conative, conepate, conepatl, contempt, copemate, covalent, election, enactive, etiolate, evection, impotent, invocate, leptonic, levitate, locative, manciple, mantelet, matelote, melanite, motivate, optative, palmette, palmetto, patience. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-i-l-m-n-o-p-t-t-v" | |
+1 letter: contemplatives. | |
+2 letters: contemplatively. | |
+4 letters: contemplativeness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
