ponderous

Adjective

ponderous (comparative more ponderous, superlative most ponderous)

1. Heavy, massive, weighty.
   • [H]e saw, at the end of a shallow embrasure, a ponderous door of dark wood, braced with iron.1879, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 5, in Archibald Malmaison
   • 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.c. 1920, Edgar B. P. Darlington, chapter 4, in The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings

   Synonyms:

   heavy, massive

2. (broadly, figuratively) Serious, onerous, oppressive.
   • It was Dryden's opinion . . . that the drama required an alternation of comick and tragick scenes; and that it is necessary to mitigate, by alleviations of merriment, the pressure of ponderous events, and the fatigue of toilsome passions.1781, Samuel Johnson, “Dryden”, in Lives of the Poets
   • In its court-yard—worthy of the Castle of Otranto in its ponderous gloom—is a massive staircase.1845, Charles Dickens, chapter 11, in Pictures From Italy

   Synonyms:

   oppressive, serious

3. Clumsy, unwieldy, or slow, especially due to weight.
   • [T]he inmates of the coach, by numerous hard, painful joltings, and ponderous, dragging trundlings, are suddenly made sensible of some great change in the character of the road.1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XVI. First Night of Their Arrival in the City.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section I, pages 312–313
   • Slowly, through an increasing glow that lighted land and water alike, the leviathan of the deep made her ponderous progress to the hill-encircled harbor.1915, Samuel Hopkins Adams, chapter 10, in Little Miss Grouch
4. Dull, boring, tedious; long-winded in expression.
   • Over supper the minister did unbend a little into one or two ponderous jokes.1863, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cousin Phillis
   • [A]s certainly as any one said anything in her presence that she had occasion to repeat, she changed the wording to six-syllabled mouthfuls, delivered with ponderous circumlocution.1918, Gene Stratton-Porter, chapter 2, in A Daughter Of The Land
5. (rare) Characterized by or associated with pondering.
   • Ponderous thoughts take hold of the heart; musing maketh the fire to burn, and steady sight hath the greatest influence upon us.c. 1660, Thomas Manton, “Sermon Upon John III”, in Works of Thomas Manton, 2002 edition, →ISBN, page 464
   • The acute and ponderous mind of Dr. Johnson was not always right in its decisions.1804, The Literary Magazine and American Register, volume 2, number 7, page 10
6. (obsolete) Dense.