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PONDEROUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having great mass and weight and unwieldiness
Example:
ponderous weapons
Classified under:
Similar:
heavy (of comparatively great physical weight or density)
Derivation:
ponderosity; ponderousness (the property of being large in mass)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Slow and laborious because of weight
Example:
a ponderous yawn
Synonyms:
heavy; lumbering; ponderous
Classified under:
Similar:
heavy-footed ((of movement) lacking ease or lightness)
Derivation:
ponderousness (the property of being large in mass)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Labored and dull
Example:
a ponderous speech
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
uninteresting (arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement)
Derivation:
ponderousness (an oppressive quality that is laborious and solemn and lacks grace or fluency)
Context examples:
The fireplace, where she had expected the ample width and ponderous carving of former times, was contracted to a Rumford, with slabs of plain though handsome marble, and ornaments over it of the prettiest English china.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
In came Wilson again with a feint at the mark and a flush hit on Harrison’s cheek; then, breaking the force of the smith’s ponderous right counter, he brought the round to a conclusion by slipping down upon the grass.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"I grant that as authorities to quote they are most excellent—the two foremost literary critics in the United States. Every school teacher in the land looks up to Vanderwater as the Dean of American criticism. Yet I read his stuff, and it seems to me the perfection of the felicitous expression of the inane. Why, he is no more than a ponderous bromide, thanks to Gelett Burgess. And Praps is no better. His 'Hemlock Mosses,' for instance is beautifully written. Not a comma is out of place; and the tone—ah!—is lofty, so lofty. He is the best-paid critic in the United States. Though, Heaven forbid! he's not a critic at all. They do criticism better in England.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
The Company had marched to the turn of the road ere Sir Nigel Loring rode out from the gateway, mounted on Pommers, his great black war-horse, whose ponderous footfall on the wooden drawbridge echoed loudly from the gloomy arch which spanned it.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Not tables, toilettes, wardrobes, or drawers, but on one side perhaps the remains of a broken lute, on the other a ponderous chest which no efforts can open, and over the fireplace the portrait of some handsome warrior, whose features will so incomprehensibly strike you, that you will not be able to withdraw your eyes from it.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Of course, said he, with his clumsy and ponderous sarcasm, Professor Summerlee will understand that when I speak of a pterodactyl I mean a stork—only it is the kind of stork which has no feathers, a leathery skin, membranous wings, and teeth in its jaws.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
By the light of two flambeaux, protruded through the narrow slit-shaped openings at either side of the ponderous gate, they caught a glimpse of the glitter of fierce eyes and of the gleam of the weapons of the guard.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As they passed over the drawbridge, Alleyne marked the gleam of arms in the embrasures to right and left, and they had scarce set foot upon the causeway ere a hoarse blare burst from a bugle, and, with screech of hinge and clank of chain, the ponderous bridge swung up into the air, drawn by unseen hands.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
