1
as in boring
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest fell asleep during the ponderous speech

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
3

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective ponderous differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of ponderous are cumbersome, cumbrous, heavy, and weighty. While all these words mean "having great weight," ponderous implies having great weight because of size and massiveness with resulting great inertia.

ponderous elephants in a circus parade

How do cumbrous and cumbersome relate to one another, in the sense of ponderous?

Both 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

When could heavy be used to replace ponderous?

The synonyms heavy and ponderous are sometimes interchangeable, but heavy implies that something has greater density or thickness than the average of its kind or class.

a heavy child for his age

When is it sensible to use weighty instead of ponderous?

In some situations, the words weighty and ponderous are roughly equivalent. However, weighty suggests having actual and not just relative weight.

a load of weighty boxes

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ponderous Much of the show is given to ponderous historical segues. Ruby Tandoh, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025 There’s no long-winded exposition, no ponderous articulation of the themes, and no punches pulled. Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025 Yes, Invasion has received mixed reviews for its ponderous pacing (especially in the first season). Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 5 Aug. 2025 This year’s popular new music has been decidedly downbeat, with ballads and ponderous country songs topping the charts, Errico said. Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for ponderous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ponderous
Adjective
  • Anyone who suggests Guardiola’s title-winning Manchester City teams were boring should be forced to watch 90 minutes of Mourinho’s Chelsea versus Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool in the mid-2000s and report back.
    Oliver Kay, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The details might be boring, but the gathering of money—searching gem dealers, gold dealers—was a full-time job.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The Red Ghost was said to be a massive, red-haired camel with a skeletal rider strapped to its back.
    Tiffany Acosta, AZCentral.com, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Relying solely on Amazon’s admittedly massive reach would be both a lifeline and a painful concession.
    Mara Weinraub, Bon Appetit Magazine, 17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Arturs Silovs looked a bit clumsy in the first period and his rebound control was less than stellar.
    Josh Yohe, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Actually, Alma does suffer from ulcers, which cause her extraordinary stomach pain and vomiting at inconvenient moments, and cause viewers to wonder not if but when such clumsy symbolic traits will be trotted out in the future.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Audition is a slow burn, spending the better part of two hours setting up audiences for arguably one of the most graphic climaxes in horror history.
    Steven Thrash, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Tai chi is a form of exercise that involves slow, gentle movements and balancing poses.
    Carrie Madormo, Health, 19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • But more psychologists and mental health practitioners are working to address the ways the disease—with its constant demands to manage insulin and blood glucose levels—takes a heavy toll on the mind.
    Lauren J. Young, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Separating a single photon has been described as a feat equivalent to differentiating between the sound of a single grain of sand falling while heavy rains and lightning strikes occur.
    Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering, 14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • In all of the courses, the pedagogy is an awkward pastiche of traditions, combining Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Slavic paganism, Siberian shamanism, and Asian spiritual practices, spiked with elements of Jungian and American pop psychology.
    Julia Ioffe, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Pignato shared a scene from a recent consult with a rival company that wanted advice on how to bring AI into its engineering workflow, and an awkward generational mismatch.
    Jason Ma, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • With the departure of disgraced co-creator Justin Roiland after the third season, the show has been steadily improving in quality, with a tremendous cast and some very funny done-in-one episodes that don't have the sometimes tiring cynicism of R&M.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 10 Oct. 2025
  • However, some Republicans have spoken out against her and recently reported that some administration officials are tiring of her, suggesting her influence is not unbridled.
    Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Like the cumbersome, omnipresent sheriff's duty belt, complete with handgun, handcuffs and the works.
    Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The results are incredibly detailed, although the accessory is cumbersome.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Ponderous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ponderous. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on ponderous

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!