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Jan 7, 2014
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
repletion
ponderous
quondam
inimical
ignominy

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

ponderous

PRONUNCIATION:
(PON-duhr-uhs)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Having great weight.
2. Awkward or unwieldy.
3. Dull or laborious.

ETYMOLOGY:
Via French, from Latin ponderare (to ponder, weigh). Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which is also the source of pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, depend, spontaneous, perpend, vilipend, filipendulous, and equipoise. Earliest documented use: 1400.

USAGE:
"Don't fall for the old fat trap. That ponderous old set of resolutions you make every year: I will lose weight. I will work out. I will eat less dessert. We both know you'll be tucking into a double chocolate chip cookie before the day is over."
Ring in the New!; The Hindu (Chennai, India); Dec 31, 2013.

"Freedom awaits the rest of the group as soon as the ponderous Russian paperwork is complete."
Mary Dejevsky; Putin's Charm Offensive; The Independent (London, UK); Dec 30, 2013.

See more usage examples of ponderous in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)

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