ponderous
English
WOTD – 2 November 2010
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin ponderōsus (“weighty”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɒn.dəɹ.əs/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɑn.dɚ.əs/
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective
ponderous (comparative more ponderous, superlative most ponderous)
- Heavy, massive, weighty.
- 1879, Julian Hawthorne, Archibald Malmaison, ch. 5:
- [H]e saw, at the end of a shallow embrasure, a ponderous door of dark wood, braced with iron.
- c. 1920, Edgar B. P. Darlington, The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings, ch. 4:
- The great elephant, when the cage was being placed, would, at a signal from its keeper, place its ponderous head against one side of the cage and push.
- 1879, Julian Hawthorne, Archibald Malmaison, ch. 5:
- (figuratively, by extension) Serious, onerous, oppressive.
- 1781, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets, "Dryden":
- It was Dryden's opinion . . . that the drama required an alternation of comick and tragick scenes; and that it is necessary to mitigate, by alleviations of merriment, the pressure of ponderous events, and the fatigue of toilsome passions.
- 1845, Charles Dickens, Pictures From Italy, ch. 11:
- In its court-yard—worthy of the Castle of Otranto in its ponderous gloom—is a massive staircase.
- 1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, ch. 19:
- For the time, her own body was the source of all the life in the world, which tried to burst forth here—there—and was repressed now by Mr. Bax, now by Evelyn, now by the imposition of ponderous stupidity.
- 1781, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets, "Dryden":
- Clumsy, unwieldy, or slow, especially due to weight.
- 1915, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Little Miss Grouch, ch. 10:
- Slowly, through an increasing glow that lighted land and water alike, the leviathan of the deep made her ponderous progress to the hill-encircled harbor.
- 1919, Virginia Woolf, "Kew Gardens":
- Following his steps . . . came two elderly women of the lower middle class, one stout and ponderous, the other rosy cheeked and nimble.
- 1915, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Little Miss Grouch, ch. 10:
- Dull, boring, tedious; long-winded in expression.
- 1863, Elizabeth Gaskell, "Cousin Phillis":
- Over supper the minister did unbend a little into one or two ponderous jokes.
- 1918, Gene Stratton-Porter, A Daughter Of The Land, ch. 2:
- [A]s certainly as any one said anything in her presence that she had occasion to repeat, she changed the wording to six-syllabled mouthfuls, delivered with ponderous circumlocution.
- 1863, Elizabeth Gaskell, "Cousin Phillis":
- (rare) Characterized by or associated with pondering.
- c. 1660, Thomas Manton, "Sermon Upon John III" in Works of Thomas Manton (2002 edition), →ISBN, p. 464:
- Ponderous thoughts take hold of the heart; musing maketh the fire to burn, and steady sight hath the greatest influence upon us.
- 1804, The Literary Magazine and American Register, vol. 2, no. 7, p. 10:
- The acute and ponderous mind of Dr. Johnson was not always right in its decisions.
- 1850, Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, vol. 41, p. 242:
- They are the pleasantest of all companions, and perhaps the most affluent in correct opinions of men and things generally, although little addicted to ponderous consideration or deep research.
- c. 1660, Thomas Manton, "Sermon Upon John III" in Works of Thomas Manton (2002 edition), →ISBN, p. 464:
- (obsolete) Dense.
Synonyms
- (heavy, massive): heavy, massive
- (serious, onerous): oppressive, serious
Derived terms
- ponderously
- ponderousness
Translations
heavy, massive, weighty
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serious, onerous, oppressive
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clumsy, unwieldy, or slow, especially due to weight
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dull or boring
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characterized by or associated with pondering
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dense — see dense
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Anagrams
- neuropods