ponderous
adjective
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The Serious History of Ponderous
Ponderous is ultimately from the Latin word for "weight," namely, "pondus" (which also gave us "ponder" and "preponderance" and is related to "pound"). We adopted "ponderous" with the literal sense "heavy" from Anglo-French ponderus in the 15th century, and early on we appended a figurative sense of "weighty," that is, "serious" or "important." But we stopped using the "serious" sense of "ponderous" around 200 years ago - perhaps because in the meantime we'd imposed on it a different figurative sense of "dull and lifeless," which we still use today.
Synonyms
Examples of ponderous in a Sentence
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 3 Jan. 2025
Both seasons tackle a wide range of pressing social issues (inequality of wealth, prejudice, capitalism, consumerism) without being ponderous.
—Tom Gliatto, People.com, 26 Dec. 2024
And when the outcome is slow, ponderous and predictable, the risk to set up in that shape becomes even less worth taking.
—Thom Harris, The Athletic, 22 Dec. 2024
What’s left are three cautious, easygoing performances in a film with no drive — competent, for sure, but ultimately a bit ponderous.
—Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near ponderous
Cite this Entry
“Ponderous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ponderous. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
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ponderous
adjective
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