Question

ponderous adjective "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. 1 : of very great weight2 : unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size3 : oppressively or unpleasantly dull : lifeless

Accepted Answer

July 5, 2010 PAHN-duh-rus "Electronic texts can be updated at the speed of a download rather than waiting for the next edition of a ponderous textbook." (St. Petersburg Times [Florida], June 6, 2010)

Word	ponderous
Date	July 5, 2010
Type	adjective
Syllables	PAHN-duh-rus
Etymology	"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.
Examples	"Electronic texts can be updated at the speed of a download rather than waiting for the next edition of a ponderous textbook." (St. Petersburg Times [Florida], June 6, 2010)
Definition	1 : of very great weight 2 : unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size 3 : oppressively or unpleasantly dull : lifeless

Sense Ponderous Figurative Weight July Adjective Pahn Duh Rus Ultimately