ponderous

CEFRC1

/ˈpɒn.dəɹ.əs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Slow, heavy, and difficult to deal with or understand.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Clumsy, unwieldy, or slow, especially due to weight.

Examples

  • Seals are clumsy and ponderous on land, but very graceful in the water.

  • The old professor's lectures are long-winded and ponderous.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
4

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings
  1. Serious, onerous, oppressive.

  2. Heavy, massive, weighty.

  3. Dull, boring, tedious; long-winded in expression.

More examples

In context
  • [H]e saw, at the end of a shallow embrasure, a ponderous door of dark wood, braced with iron.

  • 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.

  • Over supper the minister did unbend a little into one or two ponderous jokes.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The old man had difficulty carrying the blank box because it was extremely heavy.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Ultimately from Latin ponderōsus (“weighty”).