ponderous

adjective

pon·​der·​ous ˈpän-d(ə-)rəs 

1

: of very great weight

2

: unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size

3

: oppressively or unpleasantly dull : lifeless

ponderous prose

ponderously adverb

ponderousness noun

Did you know?

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

• boring
• slow
• tiring
• wearying
• stupid
• weary
• dull
• heavy
• old
• dusty
• annoying

Choose the Right Synonym for ponderous

heavy, weighty, ponderous, cumbrous, cumbersome mean having great weight.

heavy implies that something has greater density or thickness than the average of its kind or class.

a heavy child for his age

weighty suggests having actual and not just relative weight.

a load of weighty boxes

ponderous implies having great weight because of size and massiveness with resulting great inertia.

ponderous elephants in a circus parade

cumbrous and cumbersome imply heaviness and bulkiness that make for difficulty in grasping, moving, carrying, or manipulating.

wrestled with the cumbrous furniture

early cameras were cumbersome and inconvenient

Examples of ponderous in a Sentence

students struggling to stay awake during a ponderous lecture

fell asleep during the ponderous speech

Recent Examples on the Web

And the movie has a real sweetness and sincerity to it, determined to give family audiences a superhero flick that’s not all ponderous brooding and dark origin stories. —Tim Grierson, Vulture, 11 July 2025

But despite those skillful trappings, the story soon feels ponderous. —Dennis Harvey, Variety, 11 July 2025

The book’s languor can be ponderous and vintage, more 20th century than 21st. —Daniel Felsenthal, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2025

Parts of the final’s first half — slow and ponderous, with full-back Malo Gusto severely inverted — explained why a portion of Chelsea’s crowd are sceptical about him. —Phil Hay, New York Times, 29 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French ponderus, from Latin ponderosus, from ponder-, pondus weight

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

ponderous

adjective

pon·​der·​ous ˈpän-d(ə-)rəs 

1

: very heavy

2

: unpleasantly dull

fell asleep during the ponderous speech

ponderously adverb

ponderousness noun