Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To think about (something) with thoroughness and care.
  • intransitive verb To reflect or consider with thoroughness and care.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Something to ponder on.
  • I. To weigh.
  • To weigh carefully in the mind; consider carefully; think about; reflect upon.
  • Synonyms To consider, reflect upon, etc. See list under contemplate.
  • To think; muse; reflect; deliberate: with on or over: as, to ponder over what one has heard.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To think; to deliberate; to muse; -- usually followed by on or over.
  • transitive verb obsolete To weigh.
  • transitive verb To weigh in the mind; to view with deliberation; to examine carefully; to consider attentively.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To wonder, to think of deeply.
  • verb To consider (something) carefully and thoroughly; to chew over, to mull over.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb reflect deeply on a subject

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English ponderen, from Old French ponderer, from Latin ponderāre, from pondus, ponder-, weight; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ponderare ("to weigh, ponder, in Medieval Latin also to load"), from pondus ("weight"), from pendere ("to weigh"); see pendent and pound.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ponder.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.