Meaning & use
ponderousness
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Meanings
noununcountable
The quality of being slow and heavy, as if moving with great effort.
Grammar: Uncountable: talk about the ponderousness of something, not a ponderousness.
Patterns
- the ponderousness of something
The ponderousness of the old truck made it hard to turn corners.
Critics complained about the ponderousness of the plot, which moved very slowly.
He walked with a ponderousness that suggested his legs ached.
noununcountabledisapproving
The quality of speech or writing that is dull, serious, and too long.
Grammar: Uncountable; often used with of to name the thing that is dull.
Patterns
- the ponderousness of something
The ponderousness of the lecture sent half the audience to sleep.
Her report was criticized for its ponderousness and lack of clear points.
Common combinations
- the ponderousness of the style
- The ponderousness of the style made the novel a struggle to finish.
- with ponderousness
- He spoke with ponderousness, pausing after every word.
- a sense of ponderousness
- There was a sense of ponderousness in the way the meeting dragged on.
Synonyms and how they differ
- heaviness
- More literal and general; ponderousness adds the idea of slow, awkward movement or dullness.
- clumsiness
- Focuses on lack of skill or grace, while ponderousness emphasizes weight and slowness.
- dullness
- Used for boring quality; ponderousness suggests boring because it is too serious and long.
Opposites
Word family
- ponderous adjective
- Slow and heavy; dull and serious.
- ponderously adverb
- In a slow, heavy, or dull manner.
Commonly confused: ponderousness or ponderous?
ponderousness vs ponderous
Ponderous is the adjective; ponderousness is the noun. Don't say 'a ponderousness' when you mean the adjective.
Practice
Which sentence uses ponderousness correctly?
Choose one answer.
Ponderousness is an uncountable noun meaning dull heaviness, so it fits with feeling sleepy. Option 0 is wrong because ponderousness would not make people want to dance. Option 2 uses the noun as an adjective, and option 3 uses it as a predicate adjective, which is ungrammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ponderousness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.