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
Marya E. Gates, IndieWire, 21 Nov. 2024
All were uncharacteristically ponderous—even philosophical—attempts by journalists to understand the watch.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 6 Nov. 2024
The Room Next Door is an alternately rapturous and ponderous meditation on mortality, though in a very Almodóvarian fashion, that exploration comes by way of a fantasy of set directing one’s own death, down to the moment, location, and outfit worn.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Sep. 2024
Clint Mansell’s score is the driving force behind this ponderous movie’s mysterious aura, with a pair of unlikely collaborators that reflect the movie’s tonal soup.
—Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 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 28 Nov. 2024.
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ponderous
adjective
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