introspective

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌɪntrəˈspɛktɪv/ UK /ˌɪntrəˈspɛktɪv/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
given to examining one's own thoughts and feelings

Her introspective diary entries traced every shift in her mood.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · given to examining one's... reflective contemplative meditative pensive ruminativeself-examining

Opposites

extrovertedoutgoing

Word family

Forms introspectively

Derived forms introspectivelyintrospectiveness

Related forms introspect introspection

Etymology

From Latin introspectus, past participle of introspicere 'to look into' (from intro- 'inward' plus specere 'to look'), plus the suffix -ive.

introspicere Latin specere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# introspective

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌɪntrəˈspɛktɪv/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌɪntrəˈspɛktɪv/

## Meanings
1. given to examining one's own thoughts and feelings

## Examples
- Her introspective diary entries traced every shift in her mood.

## Synonyms
- reflective
- contemplative
- meditative
- pensive
- ruminative
- self-examining

## Antonyms
- extroverted
- outgoing

## Derived Forms
- introspectively
- introspectiveness

## Related Forms
- introspect
- introspection

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: introspicere
- Root: specere - to look at

## Etymology
From Latin introspectus, past participle of introspicere 'to look into' (from intro- 'inward' plus specere 'to look'), plus the suffix -ive.

## AI Etymology
introspective comes from Latin introspectus, past participle of introspicere 'to look into' (from intro- 'inward' plus specere 'to look'), plus the suffix -ive. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the adjective sense is "given to examining one's own thoughts and feelings", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as introspect and introspection, and in derivatives such as introspectively and introspectiveness. Its semantic neighborhood includes reflective, contemplative, meditative, and pensive, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin introspicere and Latin specere.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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