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ponderous

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Heavy, weighty, or cumbersome. In older literary use it can also suggest something slow and oppressive.

Detailed Definition
Byron uses this word in a grave, elevated sense to describe the tomb as physically heavy and emotionally burdensome. In poetry, it often carries a stronger feeling of oppressive weight than the everyday word 'heavy.'
Example
Example in poetry:
“On thee shall press no ponderous tomb” makes ponderous mean heavy and oppressive; Milton’s grand style often uses weighty diction for cosmic scale; “Ponderous clouds lowered over the field,” transfers heaviness to weather; A modern poem may call bureaucracy “ponderous” to suggest slow, burdensome power
Additional Notes
In the line "On thee shall press no ponderous tomb;" the adjective is literary and less common today than 'heavy.'; Found in the poem, Oh! Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom by Lord Byron
Also Known As
heavy weighty burdensome substantial
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