Etymology
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From Middle English ponderen, from Old French ponderer (“to weigh, balance, ponder”) from Latin ponderare (“to weigh, ponder”), from pondus (“weight”), from pendere (“to weigh”); see pendent and pound.
Pronunciation
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ponder (third-person singular simple present ponders, present participle pondering, simple past and past participle pondered)
- To wonder, think of deeply.
- To consider (something) carefully and thoroughly.
- Synonyms: chew over, mull over; see also Thesaurus:ponder
I have spent days pondering the meaning of life.
- (obsolete) To weigh.
Related terms
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Translations
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to think deeply
- Armenian: մտորել (hy) (mtorel)
- Bulgarian: размишлявам (bg) (razmišljavam)
- Catalan: ponderar (ca)
- Cherokee: ᎠᏓᏅᏖᏗ (adanvtedi)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 思考 (zh) (sīkǎo), 琢磨 (zh) (zuómo), 沈思 (zh) (chénsī), 沉思 (zh) (chénsī)
- Chuukese: ekipwichi
- Czech: přemýšlet (cs) impf
- Danish: gruble, fundere
- Dutch: overwegen (nl), overpeinzen (nl)
- Finnish: pohtia (fi)
- French: songer (fr), réfléchir (fr)
- Galician: ponderar (gl), parar mentes
- German: grübeln (de)
- Hebrew: הרהר (he) (hirhér)
- Hungarian: mereng (hu), elmereng (hu), tűnődik (hu), eltűnődik (hu), elmélkedik (hu), mérlegel (hu)
- Icelandic: íhuga
- Ido: ponderar (io), meditar (io), reflektar (io), konsiderar (io)
- Italian: ponderare (it)
- Kazakh: толғану (tolğanu)
- Korean: 숙고하다 (sukgohada)
- Latin: dēlīberō, meditor, pensitō
- Malay: merenungi
- Maori: taute, whakaaroaro
- Occitan: pensar (oc), perpensar (oc)
- Polish: dumać (pl), rozważać (pl), rozmyślać (pl) impf, namyślać się (pl) impf
- Portuguese: ponderar (pt)
- Russian: размышля́ть (ru) impf (razmyšljátʹ), размы́слить (ru) pf (razmýslitʹ)
- Sanskrit: मन्यते (sa) (manyate)
- Scottish Gaelic: meòraich, cnuasaich
- Slovene: razmišljati impf, razmisliti pf
- Spanish: considerar (es), meditar (es), cavilar (es), discurrir (es)
- Swedish: fundera (sv), begrunda (sv), grunna (sv)
- Tamil: யோசி (ta) (yōci)
- Turkish: düşünüp taşınmak (tr)
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to consider carefully
- Armenian: մտորել (hy) (mtorel)
- Bulgarian: обмислям (bg) (obmisljam)
- Catalan: ponderar (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 思考 (zh) (sīkǎo), 考慮/考虑 (zh) (kǎolǜ)
- Danish: tænke efter
- Dutch: overdenken (nl)
- Finnish: pohtia (fi)
- French: s'interroger (fr)
- Galician: ponderar (gl), parar mentes
- German: überlegen (de), nachdenken (de)
- Hungarian: latolgat (hu), fontolgat (hu), mérlegel (hu), fontolóra vesz (hu)
- Icelandic: íhuga
- Italian: ponderare (it)
- Latin: expendō (la), meditor, aspicio (la)
- Maori: taute, hurihuri
- Portuguese: ponderar (pt)
- Russian: обду́мывать (ru) impf (obdúmyvatʹ), обду́мать (ru) pf (obdúmatʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: meòraich, cnuasaich
- Spanish: ponderar (es)
- Swedish: fundera (sv), grubbla (sv), grunna (sv)
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ponder (plural ponders)
- (colloquial) A period of deep thought.
I lit my pipe and had a ponder about it, but reached no definite conclusion.
Further reading
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- “ponder”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “ponder”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
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