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Glite Dictionary
😮‍💨 Heavy breathing 🌊 Rising and falling 💪 Lifting with effort
heaving

heaving

1 5.0
An up and down movement, for example of waves or a crowd
  • noun
  • /ˈhivɪŋ/
translation icon : movimiento ondulante
  • She brought a hand to her heaving chest.
  • heaving chest
  • heaving breath
  • heaving waters

Examples

  • When she looked up, everything kept on—the heaving, the sound—and her face opened itself wider and wider.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • There was a heaving as if some giant buried beneath was rising from his sleep, and huge boulders began to jut from the ground like the bones of the giant's hunched shoulders.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • There was a heaving of the fluke on top of the waves.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • My eyes search for the horizon again; let me lose myself and all these ridiculous thoughts in the endless heaving of the water.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • (Wyatt pauses, drawing wind, his chest heaving; then he says almost under his breath.)

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The heaving of the waves made it difficult for the boat to stay steady.

  • After the sprint, I noticed a heaving of his chest as he tried to catch his breath.

  • The heaving masses of water crashed against the shoreline during the storm.

Synonyms

heave
vsheaving
1 4.6

A regular rising and falling movement like waves

is the action form stressing ongoing motion often of waves or deep breathing

Antonyms

sinking
17 2.8

A boat or object that goes below the water's surface

falling
1.0

Coming down from above because of gravity

Compounds

heaving line
  • Specialized
1 8.3

A light rope with a weight at one end thrown to carry a heavier rope to a boat or shore

frost heaving
  • UK
8.2

Upward movement of ground or pavement when water in it freezes and expands

How Strong

surging
4.9
heaving
1 5.0
rolling
1 2.2
rippling
1 2.3

Surface Forms

heaving singular
heavings plural

Morphology

heaving = heave (transparent) = heave + ing

Derived from 'heave' in the sense 'to rise/swell', so learners can infer a rising and falling movement for waves or chest.

Etymology

The word heaving comes from the old verb heave, which also meant 'to rise and fall', like waves on the sea. So a heaving movement is the steady up-and-down motion you see in the ocean or in a crowd.