Dictionary

ponderously en · ADV

Etymology

Etymology tree English ponderous Middle English -ly English -ly English ponderously From ponderous + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a ponderous manner; very slowly.
   • Sir Ernest Heavywether rose ponderously. 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 156:
   • Rooney and his team-mates started ponderously, as if sensing the enormity of the occasion, but once Scholes began to link with Ryan Giggs in the middle of the park, the visitors increased the tempo with Sunderland struggling to keep up. 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
2. With the appearance of great weight.
   • A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with Venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting between the stones, imposing carriage archways right and left, immense double doors standing ponderously ajar. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:

Forms