ponderable

See also: pondérable

English

Etymology

From ponder +‎ -able.

Adjective

ponderable (comparative more ponderable, superlative most ponderable)

2. (physics) Having a detectable amount of matter; having a measurable mass.
   • 1910, E. T. Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, Dublin University Press, published 1910, page 35:

     [T]he imponderability of heat did not appear to the philosophers of the eighteenth century to be a sufficient reason for excluding it from the list of chemical elements; and... there was... doubt... whether caloric was ponderable or not.

3. Worthy of note; significant, interesting.
4. (rare) Heavy; ponderous.
   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 77:

     The very mother's head you swore by in the dock is a heavier head, crowned with ponderable hair.

Synonyms

• (having mass): massive
• (worthy of note): eminent, noteworthy; see also Thesaurus:notable
• (heavy, ponderous): hefty, massive, weighty

Related terms

• ponder
• ponderous

Spanish

Adjective

ponderable m or f (masculine and feminine plural ponderables)

1. ponderable, notable
   • 2016 September 30, “Franklin Gutiérrez: En nuestro medio literario prevalece el amiguismo a todos los niveles”, in Listin Diario‎^[1]:

     Generalmente cada medio siglo deja tres o cuatros voces femenina ponderables a la literatura en un país.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

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