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as in slow
causing weariness, restlessness, or lack of interest the study of history doesn't have to be all about dull heavy reading and the memorization of dates

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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heavy

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noun

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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective heavy differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of heavy are cumbersome, cumbrous, ponderous, and weighty. While all these words mean "having great weight," heavy implies that something has greater density or thickness than the average of its kind or class.

a heavy child for his age

How are the words cumbrous and cumbersome related as synonyms of heavy?

Both cumbrous and cumbersome imply heaviness and bulkiness that make for difficulty in grasping, moving, carrying, or manipulating.

wrestled with the cumbrous furniture
early cameras were cumbersome and inconvenient

When could ponderous be used to replace heavy?

The meanings of ponderous and heavy largely overlap; however, ponderous implies having great weight because of size and massiveness with resulting great inertia.

ponderous elephants in a circus parade

Where would weighty be a reasonable alternative to heavy?

In some situations, the words weighty and heavy are roughly equivalent. However, weighty suggests having actual and not just relative weight.

a load of weighty boxes

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of heavy
Adjective
Or will Israeli demands to simply release all hostages and oust Hamas under heavy military pressure work this time around? TIME, 23 Mar. 2025 UConn should be considered a heavy favorite to make it to the national championship. The Athletic, 22 Mar. 2025
Noun
The 6 foot 5 inch Lister made an indelible impression as Deebo, the bicycle-riding neighborhood heavy who terrorizes Ice Cube and Chris Tucker in the comedy Friday (1995). Danny Horn, EW.com, 27 Jan. 2025 Not without consequence, of course, and not just from New York heavies—in his years of flouting the conventions of etiquette in the bush, around animals, whether while making images or just out wandering, Peter was not entirely unscathed. Chris Wallace, Vogue, 17 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for heavy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heavy
Adjective
  • Masterminded by the Rockwell Group, that means a cocktail lounge draped in blue velvet with a marble bar under a massive lighted globe on the 48th floor.
    Laurie Werner, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025
  • On 25th March 2025, Russian forces launched a massive drone assault on Dnipropetrovsk oblast, including Marhanets and Nikopol, marking one of the largest and most intense attacks of the war to date.
    Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The shark’s slow movement may have allowed the octopus to stay latched on, but if the mako had picked up speed, the octopus likely would have been forced off.
    Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Faster hard drives will tend to make more noise than slower ones.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Ted presents the judge with a different affidavit, this time the one the greasy journalist provided them, and informs the court of the DA’s dirty tricks to strong-arm those papers.
    Ayan Artan, Vulture, 23 Mar. 2025
  • The plastic sleeve also helps keep the beloved pieces of paper from being further damaged by greasy fingers and water droplets.
    Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • There are so many moments of hazy slow-motion, of dramatic music, the constant shallow depth-of-field camera work.
    Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025
  • The recent Hubble image, which was shared online on March 17, also captures a nebula that casts a hazy blue-greenish shadow over part of the star cluster.
    Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Designed for hiking and other outdoor adventures, these water-resistant pants are made with UPF 50 protection from harsh sun rays along with several spacious, handy pockets.
    Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 22 Mar. 2025
  • President Trump is threatening 20 years in prison for anyone who vandalizes a Tesla, specifically in a harsh El Salvador facility.
    Emily Forlini, PCMAG, 21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Both regions came under heavy attack during intensive Israeli air strikes.
    Sarah Ferguson, Forbes.com, 27 Mar. 2025
  • After this close encounter with intensive factory farming, the narrator vows to go vegan.
    Bartolomeo Sala, The Dial, 27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • At the time, there was serious anxiety about whether attendance and viewership could recover.
    Becky Sullivan, NPR, 23 Mar. 2025
  • Kurt's key takeaways Online abuse is a serious issue that disproportionately affects young women.
    Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report, Fox News, 23 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • There are very big match-ups being played week in and week out in what is one of the most difficult leagues to play in on the planet, this means the big contenders will drop points more often than in some other leagues.
    Joseph O'Sullivan, Forbes.com, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Generations of design successors have insisted that pie charts are difficult to read and even amount to optical informatic illusions, but we are still stuck with them.
    Mara Mills, Artforum, 1 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Heavy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heavy. Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.

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