different between monumental vs ponderous

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin monument?lis, from Latin monumentum; equivalent to monument +? -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?nj??m?nt?l/

Adjective

monumental (comparative more monumental, superlative most monumental)

1. In the manner of a monument.
2. Large, grand and imposing.
3. Taking a great amount of time and effort to complete.

   a monumental task

4. (archaeology) Relating to monuments.

Derived terms

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin monument?lis, from Latin monumentum; equivalent to monument +? -al.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /mo.nu.m?n?tal/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /mu.nu.m?n?tal/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /mo.nu.men?tal/

Adjective

monumental (masculine and feminine plural monumentals)

1. monumental

Derived terms

• monumentalisme
• monumentalitat

Further reading

• “monumental” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “monumental” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “monumental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “monumental” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

From monument (“monument”) +? -al, from French monumental, from Late Latin monument?lis, from Latin monumentum (“reminder, monument”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /monum?nta?l/, [monum?n?t?æ??l]

Adjective

monumental

1. monumental (large, grand and imposing)

Inflection

Synonyms

• grandios
• storslået

References

• “monumental” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin monument?lis, from Latin monumentum; equivalent to monument +? -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?.ny.m??.tal/

Adjective

monumental (feminine singular monumentale, masculine plural monumentaux, feminine plural monumentales)

1. monumental

Derived terms

Further reading

• “monumental” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Etymology

From Late Latin monument?lis.

Adjective

monumental m or f (plural monumentais)

1. monumental

Derived terms

• monumentalidade

Further reading

• “monumental” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

German

Etymology

From Late Latin monument?lis, via French monumental.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /monum?n?ta?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Adjective

monumental (comparative monumentaler, superlative am monumentalsten)

1. monumental

Declension

Derived terms

• Monumentalbau

Further reading

• “monumental” in Duden online

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Late Latin monument?lis, via French monumental.

Adjective

monumental (neuter singular monumentalt, definite singular and plural monumentale)

1. monumental

Related terms

• monument

References

• “monumental” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Late Latin monument?lis, via French monumental.

Adjective

monumental (neuter singular monumentalt, definite singular and plural monumentale)

1. monumental

Related terms

• monument

References

• “monumental” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin monument?lis.

Adjective

monumental m or f (plural monumentais, comparable)

1. monumental

   Synonym: monumentoso

Derived terms

Related terms

• monumento

Further reading

• “monumental” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin monument?lis, from Latin monumentum; equivalent to monumento +? -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /monumen?tal/, [mo.nu.m?n??t?al]

Adjective

monumental (plural monumentales)

1. monumental

Derived terms

Related terms

• monumento

Further reading

• “monumental” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin ponder?sus (“weighty”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?n.d??.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?n.d?.?s/

Adjective

ponderous (comparative more ponderous, superlative most ponderous)

1. Heavy, massive, weighty.
   • 1879, Julian Hawthorne, Archibald Malmaison, ch. 5:

     [H]e saw, at the end of a shallow embrasure, a ponderous door of dark wood, braced with iron.

   • c. 1920, Edgar B. P. Darlington, The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings, ch. 4:

     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.

2. (figuratively, by extension) Serious, onerous, oppressive.
   • 1781, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets, "Dryden":

     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.

   • 1845, Charles Dickens, Pictures From Italy, ch. 11:

     In its court-yard—worthy of the Castle of Otranto in its ponderous gloom—is a massive staircase.

   • 1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, ch. 19:

     For the time, her own body was the source of all the life in the world, which tried to burst forth here—there—and was repressed now by Mr. Bax, now by Evelyn, now by the imposition of ponderous stupidity.

3. Clumsy, unwieldy, or slow, especially due to weight.
   • 1915, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Little Miss Grouch, ch. 10:

     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.

   • 1919, Virginia Woolf, "Kew Gardens":

     Following his steps . . . came two elderly women of the lower middle class, one stout and ponderous, the other rosy cheeked and nimble.

4. Dull, boring, tedious; long-winded in expression.
   • 1863, Elizabeth Gaskell, "Cousin Phillis":

     Over supper the minister did unbend a little into one or two ponderous jokes.

   • 1918, Gene Stratton-Porter, A Daughter Of The Land, ch. 2:

     [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.

5. (rare) Characterized by or associated with pondering.
   • c. 1660, Thomas Manton, "Sermon Upon John III" in Works of Thomas Manton (2002 edition), ?ISBN, p. 464:

     Ponderous thoughts take hold of the heart; musing maketh the fire to burn, and steady sight hath the greatest influence upon us.

   • 1804, The Literary Magazine and American Register, vol. 2, no. 7, p. 10:

     The acute and ponderous mind of Dr. Johnson was not always right in its decisions.

   • 1850, Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, vol. 41, p. 242:

     They are the pleasantest of all companions, and perhaps the most affluent in correct opinions of men and things generally, although little addicted to ponderous consideration or deep research.

6. (obsolete) Dense.

Synonyms

• (heavy, massive): heavy, massive
• (serious, onerous): oppressive, serious

Derived terms

• ponderously
• ponderousness

Translations

Anagrams

• neuropods