heinous
92
9.0
- adjective
- /ˈheɪnəs/
- Formal
:
atroz
- "Do you feel that society has a right to impose the death penalty for especially heinous crimes?"
- a heinous crime
- most heinous
- a heinous deed
And I sat there and read these heinous comments about being laughed.
- And I sat there and read these heinous comments about being laughed.
- And they went in there and committed heinous atrocities.
- Would you commit a heinous crime?
- We know Harvey Weinstein is in prison for assault and and heinous crimes.
- It's just that it's directed into such a heinous, destructive path.
- It really is just, but it's just really heinous, graphic, horrible shit.
- Locksmiths can commit heinous crimes if they want.
- OK, They commit any, any like heinous crimes of YouTube, right?
- People were saying heinous things to her, pal, heinous things to her.
- To actually go on record and also accuse someone is as heinous as doing the ACT itself.
- And I think we're past the the hump on on heinous ideology.
- And they all meet to agree on really heinous things.
- Within the confines of prison for such a heinous act that you do get a little bit more?
Examples
-
The heinous crime shocked the entire community and left many people in disbelief.
-
Everyone looks at each other and the dead and wounded victims of this heinous act...
Fiction book (1997) -
Will normal people do heinous things just because an authority figure asked them to?
-
Would you commit a heinous crime?
-
Millions of people die in this heinous tragedy.
-
God can forgive the most heinous of sins.
-
Eight corpses have been discovered in what is already being called the most brutal and heinous crime in local history.
-
The biggest punishment, namely death, is reserved for the most heinous crimes.
Academic text (2001) -
The soldier had committed the most heinous and cowardly murders in the history of Cumberland County, North Carolina.
Fiction book (2002) -
Melnik's client, Juan Catalan, stood accused of a particularly heinous revenge murder.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
∞
1.2
Being very bad and morally wrong, often causing harm to others
157
5.0
Very bad and morally wrong
91
8.1
Extremely evil and cruel, as if caused by the devil
82
7.0
Very shocking and scary, causing fear or disgust
47
8.8
Very bad and illegal, done to harm people
44
8.2
Very evil and cruel, like a devil
42
3.1
A very bad or painful condition, for example during illness
28
6.1
Very unpleasant and painful, like being in hell
27
7.3
Very cruel and shocking, causing strong fear
20
6.3
Extremely cruel and evil, like something from hell
14
7.3
Very bad and cruel, often hurting other people
12
7.6
Very cruel and shocking, causing great pain and fear
10
7.9
Being very cruel and evil and making others suffer
1
7.8
Very evil and cruel, like the devil
1
9.9
A very wicked and criminal act that shocks people
Antonyms
How Evil
Surface Forms
Morphology
heinous = hein + ous
Although '-ous' is a productive adjective suffix, the stem 'hein' is not a standalone modern English word, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from its parts.
Etymology
The word heinous comes from an old French word haine meaning 'hatred' and is like the English word hate. So a heinous act is one full of hate and is shockingly or very evil.