Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Pondering |
PonderingAdjective1. Persistently or morbidly thoughtful. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "pondering" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Synonyms: PonderingSynonyms: brooding (adj), broody (adj), contemplative (adj), meditative (adj), musing (adj), pensive (adj), reflective (adj), ruminative (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Thought | Noun: thought; exercitation of the intellect, exercise of the intellect; intellection; reflection, cogitation, consideration, meditation, study, lucubration, speculation, deliberation, pondering; head work, brain work; cerebration; deep reflection; close study, application; (attention). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Pondering |
| English words defined with "pondering": Perpension ♦ think ♦ Unweighing. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "pondering": Addition ♦ Text ♦ Who Loves Life?/I love Life. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering (Animaniacs; writing credit: Nick Dubois; Peter Hastings) | |
Lyrics | Pondering reality (Mephisto and Kevin; performing artist: Primus) | |
Song Titles | Ancient Egyptians, The (performing artist: Poi Dog Pondering) Living With The Dreaming Body (performing artist: Poi Dog Pondering) Pulling Touch (performing artist: Poi Dog Pondering) Sugarbush Cushman (performing artist: Poi Dog Pondering) The Me That Was Your Son (performing artist: Poi Dog Pondering) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Charles Kearse Pondering the orientation problems of a multi-beam sounding system During acceptance trials of Sea Beam system. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Theodore Roosevelt pondering a crystal ball with Woodrow Wilson's face. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Woodrow Wilson pondering clubs labeled "compromise," "demagoguery (stuffed)," "public opinion," "politics," and "coercion" while Old Hickory looks on from a portrait. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Pondering. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Spring Chicken" by B0at B0at Commentary: "Spring chicken in the yard, pondering the meaning of life and from where the next bug's going to come." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Through the Looking-Glass | Carroll, Lewis | After this, Alice was silent for a minute or two, pondering. |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | Pondering on what the Ghost had said, he did so now, but without lifting up his eyes, or getting off his knees |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Pondering" is generally used as a lexical verb (-ing form) -- approximately 98.01% of the time. "Pondering" is used about 151 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (-ing form) | 98.01% | 148 | 25,903 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.32% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.66% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 151 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
poi dog pondering | 83 |
pondering | 5 |
pondering thought | 4 |
pondering question | 3 |
dog lyrics poi pondering | 3 |
judd pondering | 3 |
i m pondering pondering | 2 |
pondering quote | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "pondering"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 審議 (deliberation, due consideration). (various references) | |
German | sinnierend, grübelnd (musing, poring, ruminant, ruminative), erwägend. (various references) | |
Hungarian | latolgatás. (various references) | |
Indonesian | tercenung (stunned into silent pondering). (various references) | |
Italian | ponderazione (reflection, reflexion). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | onderingpay.(various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | contemplatus, meditatio. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Pondering" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Pendefig, Phodrang, ponceing, pondern, pond'ring, Pontresino, pundering. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "pondering" (pronounced pÄ"ndering) |
| 6 | -Ä" n d er i ng | squandering, wandering. |
| 5 | -n d er i ng | blundering, floundering, foundering, gerrymandering, hindering, laundering, maundering, meandering, pandering, philandering, plundering, rendering, surrendering, tendering, thundering, wondering. |
| 4 | -d er i ng | bewildering, bordering, considering, doddering, embroidering, murdering, ordering, powdering, reconsidering, reordering, shouldering, shuddering, smoldering, soldering. |
| 3 | -er i ng | answering, administering, altering, anchoring, angering, auguring, backfiring, badgering, bantering, bartering, battering, belaboring, beleaguering, bettering, bickering, blistering, blustering, bolstering, bothering, brokering, butchering, capturing, catering, censoring, centering, chartering, chattering, clamoring, clobbering, clustering, cluttering, coloring, configuring, conjuring, conquering, cornering, countering, covering, cowering, culturing, deciphering, delivering, desiring, devouring, diapering, dickering, differing, discovering, disfavoring, disfiguring, dismembering, dithering, doctoring, empowering, encountering, endangering, endeavoring, entering, factoring, faltering, fathering, favoring, feathering, featuring, festering, figuring, filibustering, filtering, fingering, flattering, flavoring, flickering, flowering, fluttering, fostering, fracturing, frittering, furthering, garnering, gathering, gesturing, glimmering, glittering, glowering, grandfathering, guttering, hammering, hampering, hankering, harboring, hectoring, hollering, honoring, hovering, hungering, hunkering, injuring, inquiring, laboring, lawyering, layering, lecturing, lettering, levering, lingering, littering, loitering, lowering, lumbering, majoring, maneuvering, manufacturing, massacring, mastering, measuring, mentoring, metering, minoring, mirroring, mitering, mongering, monitoring, mothering, motoring, murmuring, mustering, muttering, nattering, neighboring, neutering, nonmanufacturing, numbering, nurturing, offering, outnumbering, pampering, papering, partnering, peppering, perjuring, pestering, petering, picturing, pilfering, plastering, posturing, powering, pressuring, proffering, prospering, puncturing, puttering, quivering, recapturing, recovering, rediscovering, reentering, registering, rejiggering, remembering, reoffering, requiring, restructuring, rewiring, rupturing, savoring, scampering, scattering, scouring, sculpturing, sequestering, severing, shattering, sheltering, shimmering, shivering, showering, shuttering, simmering, slaughtering, slithering, slobbering, slumbering, smattering, smothering, snickering, sobering, soldiering, souring, spattering, spiering, splintering, sponsoring, sputtering, staggering, structuring, stuttering, suffering, swaggering, sweltering, tailoring, tampering, tapering, teetering, tempering, tinkering, torturing, tottering, towering, transpiring, triggering, tutoring, uncovering, unflattering, unwavering, ushering, uttering, venturing, wagering, wallpapering, warmongering, watering, wavering, weathering, whimpering, whispering, withering, Wuthering, zippering. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-g-i-n-n-o-p-r" | |
-1 letter: deponing. | |
-2 letters: droning, eroding, grinned, groined, ignored, negroid, negroni, opening, pending, perigon, pirogen, podgier, ponding, pronged, redoing, rending. | |
-3 letters: dinero, dinger, dinner, dopier, doping, ending, endrin, engird, epigon, eringo, ginned, ginner, girned, griped, groped, ignore, ironed, opined, orpine, period, pigeon, pinder, pinged, pinger, pinned, pinner, ponder, ponged, pongid, ponied, poring, reding, region, ringed. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-g-i-n-n-o-p-r" | |
+1 letter: portending, propending, protending, responding. | |
+2 letters: promenading, ropedancing. | |
+3 letters: overspending, preordaining, ropedancings. | |
+4 letters: comprehending, corresponding, overexpanding, predominating, underexposing. | |
+5 letters: overresponding, preponderating, superabounding, underreporting. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
