brooding

Compared meaning: thinking carefully and deeply (adjective).

比较义项：认真、深入地思考（形容词）。

• thoughtful

  Describes someone or something that shows careful, deliberate thought, often in a positive, everyday way; used for people's actions, words, or gestures rather than a general mood.

  形容人或事物表现出经过用心考虑的深思，语气积极、日常，通常用于形容人的行为、言语或举动，而非泛指一种情绪状态。

  Her thoughtful answer showed she had considered every side of the argument.

  她深思熟虑的回答表明她考虑到了争论的每一个方面。

• reflective

  Describes a calm, quiet, inward state of thinking, often after an experience; used for mood, expression or silence, with a neutral, slightly literary tone.

  形容一种平静、安静的内省式思考状态，常在经历某事之后出现，多用于形容情绪、神情或沉默，语气中性、略带文学色彩。

  After the trip, he fell into a reflective mood, quietly thinking about what he'd learned.

  旅行结束后，他陷入了一种沉思的心境，静静地思考自己学到了什么。

• brooding 本词

  Describes serious, prolonged thinking that carries a worried, gloomy or resentful undertone, as if dwelling on something troubling; has a more negative, literary tone than the others.

  形容一种严肃而持续的思考，往往带有忧虑、阴郁或不满的情绪，好像在反复思虑某件令人烦恼的事，语气比其他两个词更消极、更具文学色彩。

  He fell into a brooding silence, unable to stop worrying about the test results.

  他陷入了忧郁的沉默，无法停止为考试成绩担忧。

Thoughtful, reflective, and brooding all describe deep thinking. Thoughtful suggests careful, positive consideration. Reflective suggests calm, quiet, inward thinking. Brooding suggests repeated thinking with worry or gloom. It does not cover thoughtful's other meaning, kind to others, or reflective's meaning, giving back light.

这三个词都可表示“认真深入地思考”，但语气不同：thoughtful 强调经过用心考虑、语气积极；reflective 强调平静、内省式的沉思；brooding 则强调反复思虑、带有忧虑或阴郁情绪。这里不比较 thoughtful 的“体贴周到的”义项，也不比较 reflective 的“反光的”义项（如“反光背心”）。