ponderable
Etymology

From ponder + -able.

Adjective

ponderable

  1. (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.
  2. Worthy of note; significant, interesting.
  3. (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 Related terms


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