Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
.pdfunearthly, other-worldly, ultramundane, extramundane, extraterrestrial: Alone on the mountain, she heard a heavenly voice calling her name. 2 delightful, wonderful, marvellous, sublime, paradisiac(al) or paradisaic(al), glorious, splendid, superb, exquisite, perfect, ideal, excellent, fantastic, rapturous, entrancing, blissful, Colloq gorgeous, divine, smashing, great: Andr‚'s serves a perfectly heavenly lobster thermidor.
heavy adj. 1 weighty, ponderous, massive, Literary massy; compact, dense: This box is much too heavy for me to lift. 2 abundant, overflowing, excessive, copious, profuse, prodigious, ample, unmanageable: We just crawled along in the heavy traffic. 3 serious, grave, important, crucial, critical, acute: You always bring up heavy topics at the end of the meeting. 4 burdensome, onerous, oppressive, weighty, unbearable, severe, grievous, distressful, sore, intolerable, insupportable or unsupportable, awful: Teenagers often feel that they are weighed down with heavy responsibilities. 5 sad, sorrowful, distressing,
grievous, upsetting, depressing, gloomy, sombre, melancholy: Some heavy news has been received from the front. 6 unhappy, miserable, depressed, melancholy, grieving, sad, dejected, downhearted, disconsolate, downcast, despondent, gloomy, heavy-hearted, morose, crestfallen, cheerless: Heavy at heart, he returned to his cheerless home. 7 ponderous, tedious, monotonous, boring, uninteresting, leaden, dull, prosaic, dry, dry-as-dust, stodgy, staid, stuffy, stifling, stultifying: The critics found the style much too heavy for the subject being treated. 8 thick, coarse, broad, blunt, clumsy, ungraceful:
These heavy brush-strokes prove that the painting is not a Turner. 9 gloomy, cloudy, overcast, bleak, dismal, dreary, leaden, grey, dark, louring or lowering, threatening: it was another of Scotland's heavy February days. 10 intense, concentrated, severe, forceful, violent, torrential: The snowfall was the heaviest of the year. 11 overweight, fat, obese, stout, chubby, plump, corpulent, portly, paunchy, tubby,
Brit podgy or US pudgy, Colloq beer-bellied: The doctor did not say I was too heavy, only that I ought to be six inches taller.
12 weighty, difficult, complex, recondite, arcane, deep, profound, esoteric, incomprehensible, impenetrable, unfathomable: He specializes in some heavy subject like micro-palaeontology. 13 burdened, laden, encumbered, loaded, overloaded, weighed down: We spied two Indiamen, heavy with
cargoes of spices, sailing towards us.
heavy-handed
adj. 1 awkward, clumsy, inept, maladroit, unskilful, ungraceful, graceless, bungling: She made a heavy-handed attempt to apologize. 2 autocratic, imperious, magisterial, overbearing, despotic, dictatorial, tyrannical, oppressive,
domineering, iron-handed, harsh, severe: For more than 30 years he exercised heavy-handed control over the country.
heckle |
v. badger, pester, annoy, irritate, bother, nettle, bait, |
harass, harry, plague, hector, taunt, jeer, Colloq hassle, bug, |
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Brit and Australian and New Zealand barrack: One man kept |
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heckling the speaker with persistent interruptions. |
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hectic |
adj. feverish, excited, agitated, busy, bustling, rushed, |
hyperactive, over-active, frenzied, frantic, chaotic, wild, mad, |
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frenetic, riotous: What with the new baby and everyone else |
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having the flu, I've had a pretty hectic week. |
heed |
v. 1 pay attention to, attend, (take or make) note (of), listen |
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to, mark, consider, bear in mind; take, follow, obey, mind, |
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respect, accept, abide by: I wish I had heeded her suggestions |
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for redecorating the house. Heeding his advice, I joined the |
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army. |
--n. 2 attention, notice, ear, mind, notice, respect, consideration, thought: Let us give heed to the speaker's admonitions.
heedless adj. inattentive, uncaring, unmindful, neglectful, unobservant, regardless; oblivious, deaf, blind: Heedless of tradition, they replaced the older buildings with council housing.
heel° n. 1 end, butt or tail or fag (end), stump, remainder, remnant, rind, crust: You can always freeze the heel of a loaf to use at some later date for breadcrumbs. 2 cad, scoundrel, swine, rogue, scamp, philanderer, Old-fashioned worm, knave, Chiefly Brit blackguard, Colloq Brit rotter, Old-fashioned bounder, Slang bastard, Brit sod: He's an absolute heel - he got her pregnant and then left her. 3 down at heel. US also down at the heels; poor, destitute, impoverished, down and out, on (one's) uppers, in straitened circumstances; shabby, seedy, dowdy, run-down,
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slovenly, Brit out at elbows, US out at the elbows, Colloq |
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broke, strapped: Farrington looked down at heel, so I slipped |
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him a fiver. 4 take to (one's) heels. take flight, flee, |
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escape, run off or away, show a clean pair of heels, Colloq |
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split, Brit do a moonlight flit, US take a (run-out) powder, fly |
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the coop, Australian and New Zealand shoot through: When I |
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mentioned payment, she took to her heels. |
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--v. 5 dog, follow (closely), shadow, chase, pursue: We have |
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taught our puppy to heel. |
heelý |
v. list, lean (over), tilt, tip, incline: The boat heeled as |
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we turned to beat into the wind. |
hefty |
adj. 1 big, large, bulky, cumbersome, awkward, unwieldy, |
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clumsy, substantial, massive: That's a pretty hefty box for one |
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person to carry. 2 brawny, strong, powerful, burly, muscular, |
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strapping, rugged, robust, Colloq husky, beefy: That hefty man |
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over there is the Olympic weight-lifting champion. 3 |
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substantial, considerable, sizeable, impressive, enormous, huge, |
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Colloq thumping or Brit socking great: I've just received a |
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hefty increase in salary. |
height |
n. 1 altitude, elevation, level; tallness: At what height is |
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the second camp on Mount Everest? The height of the skyscrapers |
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impressed me. 2 acme, crest, pinnacle, top, zenith, apogee, |
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peak, apex, maximum, high point, summit, climax, culmination, |
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extreme: Popularity of that style reached its height in the |
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1930s. His remark reflected the height of arrogance. 3 Often, |
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heights. elevation, mound, hill, eminence, prominence, mountain, |
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peak, crag, summit; tor, cliff, bluff, promontory, escarpment, |
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scarp, headland, No. Brit fell: As we gazed down from the |
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heights, the villages seemed tiny. |
heighten v. 1 raise, elevate, build up, increase, lift (up), upraise: A |
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white ceiling gives the effect of heightening a room. 2 |
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intensify, deepen, strengthen, reinforce, amplify, magnify, |
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increase, enhance, augment, add to, supplement: Adding some |
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blue heightens the effect. The bribery scandal has only |
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heightened distrust of the ruling party. |
heir |
n. heiress, beneficiary, inheritor, legatee, successor: What |
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if you are not the rightful heir to the estate? |
hell |
n. 1 Erebus, Hades, Acheron, Tartarus, Gehenna, Tophet, |
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Abaddon, Pandemonium, Dis, Sheol, Avernus, underworld, infernal |
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regions, abyss, abode of the damned, inferno, hell-fire, lower |
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world, nether regions, bottomless pit, other place: For his |
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sins he was condemned to everlasting hell. 2 chaos, misery, |
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torment, agony, torture, ordeal, nightmare, trial: The office |
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has been an absolute hell since you left. 3 anguish, pain, |
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agony, torment, torture, misery, suffering, affliction: We have |
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been through hell since Grenville's heart attack. 4 criticism, |
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censure; scolding, castigation, reprimand, upbraiding: My |
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mother gave me hell for getting home late. |
helm |
n. 1 tiller, wheel, rudder, steering gear or apparatus: I had |
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to put the helm over hard to avoid hitting the pier. 2 |
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directorship, presidency, chairmanship, leadership, control, |
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rule, command, Colloq driver's seat, saddle: Arthur remained at |
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the helm of the company for 40 years. |
help |
v. 1 aid, assist, lend a hand, support, serve; succour: Let me |
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help you carry that package, Mrs Smith. His charitable efforts |
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have long helped the poor. 2 relieve, alleviate, mitigate, |
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improve, facilitate, ease, better, remedy, cure: Complaining |
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about it won't help the situation. 3 stop, refrain from, avoid, |
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eschew, resist, keep from, forbear, escape: I know it was a |
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secret but I couldn't help telling Sam. 4 assist, serve, |
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advise, inform: May I help you, sir? 5 help oneself. |
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appropriate, take, arrogate, commandeer, expropriate; steal, |
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purloin, usurp, plagiarize, pirate, Colloq pinch, lift, Brit |
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nick, US boost: She helped herself to some money from the till. |
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--n. 6 aid, support, succour, assistance: I need help in |
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solving this problem. 7 employee(s), worker(s), staff, |
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helper(s), hand(s), assistant(s), labourer(s), domestic(s), |
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servant(s), Brit daily (help): We have to hire more help to |
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finish on time. 8 supporter, aide, assistant, helper: You have |
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been a great help to me. 9 relief, remedy, cure, balm: This |
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ointment has been a great help in stopping the itching. |
helpful adj. useful, serviceable, practical, pragmatic, utilitarian, beneficial, valuable, profitable, advantageous, constructive, productive; supportive, reassuring, sympathetic, considerate, caring, accommodating, kind, considerate, cooperative,
neighbourly, friendly, benevolent: A reference book might be helpful in answering that question. Mrs Carlyle gave me such helpful advice.
helping n. serving, portion, ration, plateful, Brit help, Colloq dollop: He has already asked for a third helping of potatoes.
helpless adj. 1 dependent, vulnerable, weak, helpless, feeble, infirm, lame, crippled, disabled: The disease has left him completely helpless. 2 confused, baffled, mystified, bewildered, perplexed, at sea, confounded, muddled, nonplussed: I am completely helpless when it comes to balancing my accounts. 3 weakened, weak, debilitated, faint, enfeebled, feeble, worn out, spent, exhausted, prostrate, enervated: All of us were simply helpless from laughing so much. 4 worthless, incapable, incompetent, useless, unavailing, inefficient, inept, unfit, unqualified: Dali was said to be helpless without Gala to manage his affairs.
helter-skelter
adj. 1 disorderly, disorganized, confused, muddled, haphazard, careless, jumbled, random, topsy-turvy, Colloq higgledy-piggledy: How can one find anything in this helter-skelter mess?
--adv. 2 confusedly, pell-mell, in all directions, recklessly, unsystematically, chaotically, erratically, aimlessly, US every which way, Colloq higgledy-piggledy: When the giant appeared, the children ran away, helter-skelter.
hence adv. 1 therefore, consequently, thus, accordingly, ergo, as a result, for that or this reason: She has homework to do, hence cannot go to the cinema. 2 away, from here or this place: Get thee hence, you wicked witch! 3 from now, in the future: Where will I be two years hence?
henceforth
adv. hereafter, henceforward, from now on, Colloq US from here on out: Henceforth, make no more personal remarks.
henchman n. (fellow-) mobster or gangster or hoodlum, gangster, bodyguard, myrmidon, right-hand man, associate, attendant, follower, supporter, confidant, crony, Colloq sidekick,
hooligan, Brit minder, US buddy, cohort; Slang heavy, US torpedo, gunsel, goon: Mr Big strutted in with his henchmen and wrecked the place.
henpeck |
v. nag, harass, hector, pester, torment, bully, carp, cavil: |
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She henpecked him so much that he finally left her. |
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herd |
n. |
1 group, pack, bunch, cluster, flock, crowd, multitude, |
host, horde, throng, mass, swarm, press, crush; assemblage, collection: A herd of protesters gathered before the embassy. 2 common herd, rabble, hoi polloi, great unwashed, riff-raff, masses: How can you expect the herd to understand these principles?
--v. 3 gather, congregate, flock, assemble, collect: The reporters herded round to interview the minister. 4 round up, gather (together), shepherd, drive, W US and Canadian wrangle, corral: Herd those cattle into the pen.
hereditary
adj. 1 heritable, inheritable, transmissible, transferable or transferrable, inherited, genetic, congenital, inborn, innate; atavistic: Green eyes and red hair are hereditary in our family. 2 traditional, handed down, inherited, bequeathed, willed; ancestral: Priesthood was hereditary among Aaron's descendants. These are the hereditary lands that go with the castle.
heretical adj. unorthodox, heterodox, impious, freethinking, heretic, apostate or apostatical, iconoclastic, schismatic, sceptic, agnostic, atheist(ic), idolatrous, heathen, pagan, infidel, godless: The purpose of the Inquisition was to discover and suppress heretical views.
heritage n. 1 estate, inheritance, legacy, patrimony, birthright: The manor-house was included in the heritage that was passed on to me. 2 tradition: The documentary examines our cultural heritage.
hermetic adj. hermetical, airtight, sealed; impervious: If the hermetic seal is broken, sterility is not guaranteed.
hermit n. recluse, eremite, anchorite or anchoret or anchoress,
solitary, stylite: He has retired from the world to become a hermit.
hero n. 1 heroine, champion, exemplar, star, superstar, idol, ideal, man of the hour, luminary, notable, celebrity; knight, paladin, warrior: She was a hero to every aspiring woman lawyer. She expects a hero in shining armour on a white horse to sweep her off her feet. 2 protagonist, (male) lead or star, leading man or actor, principal: G‚rard Depardieu plays the hero in this lavishly produced film.
heroic adj. 1 brave, courageous, bold, valiant, valorous, undaunted, dauntless, stout-hearted, noble, intrepid, gallant, chivalrous, daring, plucky, audacious, fearless, manly, virile, manful: We published a book about Aylesworthy's heroic exploits. 2 noble, altruistic, magnanimous, generous, upstanding, honourable, virtuous, staunch, steadfast, stalwart, determined: This plaque commemorates Manzanilla's heroic work in curbing religious persecution. 3 desperate, drastic, extreme: Despite heroic efforts, it was impossible to rescue the entire crew. 4 grand, larger than life, exaggerated, magniloquent, grandiose, extravagant; giant, gigantic, enormous, huge, titanic, colossal, stupendous: The heroic phrases of the demagogue still ring in
my ears. Statues of heroic proportions have been moved from Abu Simbel. 5 mythological, epic, Homeric, legendary, classical, fabulous, wonderful, miraculous: He enjoyed tales of heroic demigods like Hercules. 6 majestic, lofty, elevated, grand, august, towering, eminent, distinguished, prominent: The entire court was silent as the heroic figure of the emperor entered.
heroine n. (female) lead, leading actress or lady, prima donna or ballerina, premiŠre danseuse, diva: The heroine was played by Mme Kropeczka.
hesitant adj. 1 hesitating, undecided, uncertain, unsettled, irresolute, vacillating, shilly-shallying, dithering, fluctuating, wavering, unresolved, ambivalent, in or of two minds, indefinite, Brit havering: He was hesitant about whether to buy the blue or the green model. 2 halting, stammering, stuttering, faltering: From her hesitant speech I'd say she was nervous.
hesitate v. 1 delay, hold or hang back, pause, dilly-dally, wait, temporize, think twice, balk, boggle at, shrink from, demur,
scruple, Brit haver, jib, Colloq stall: He who hesitates is lost. 2 fumble, equivocate, tergiversate, fluctuate, alternate, waver, dither, vacillate, shilly-shally: He hesitated between the doors - did this one conceal the lady or the tiger? 3 stammer, stutter, falter, sputter, splutter, stumble, hem and haw: She hesitated throughout the speech purely from stage fright.
8.3 hidden =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
hidden |
adj. concealed, secret, obscure(d), occult, veiled, cryptic, |
recondite, arcane, covert, esoteric, unseen, private: Was this |
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an ordinary shopping list or did it have some hidden meaning? |
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hide° |
v. 1 conceal, secrete, cache, squirrel away; go underground, |
take cover, lie low, go into hiding, lurk, go to ground, drop out of sight, go into hiding, hibernate, latibulize, Colloq hide out, hole up, lie low, Brit lie doggo: Hide the sweets where the children won't find them. I found a place to hide under the stair. 2 conceal, cover, mask, camouflage, disguise, veil, shroud, screen, cover up, keep secret: He managed to hide his
embarrassment. 3 eclipse, blot out, obscure, block: The clouds hid the moon as we made good our escape. 4 suppress, hush (up), repress, silence, keep quiet or secret: She hid all knowledge
of the crime.
hideý n. 1 pelt, skin, fell, leather, fur, fleece: Once tanned and dyed, the hide was made into clothing.
--v. 2 flog, whip, lash, flail, beat, thrash: The masters took great satisfaction in hiding the boys.
hideaway n. refuge, retreat, sanctuary, hide-out, hiding-place, lair, (safe) haven, Colloq hole, Brit hidey-hole or hidy-hole: My brother and I would crawl into our hideaway and pretend we were being held prisoner by pirates.
hidebound adj. strait-laced, conventional, ultra-conventional, conservative, reactionary, rigid, set (in one's ways), narrow-minded, close-minded, inflexible, intractable, uncompromising, restricted, cramped, bigoted, intolerant: She's
too much of a hidebound disciplinarian to rescind the punishment.
hideous adj. 1 grotesque, ugly, repulsive, revolting, repellent, monstrous, beastly, gorgonian, unsightly, ghastly, disgusting, grisly, nauseating, nauseous, sickening, gruesome: Suddenly, a hideous face appeared at the kitchen window. 2 foul, abhorrent,
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heinous, horrifying, appalling, outrageous, abominable, vile, |
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shocking, loathsome, contemptible, hateful, odious, atrocious, |
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horrific, beastly, damnable, execrable: Two hideous crimes were |
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committed here last night. |
high |
adj. 1 tall, lofty, elevated, towering: High mountains |
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surround the valley. 2 extreme, excessive, extraordinary, |
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exorbitant, outrageous, Colloq steep, stiff: Houses in that |
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district are fetching high prices. 3 costly, dear, expensive, |
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high-priced: Shares are not as high as they were before the |
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crash. 4 great, huge, enormous, considerable, strong; violent, |
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turbulent: These wires carry high voltages. The high winds blew |
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down trees. 5 exalted, elevated, lofty, superior, high-class: |
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With insider trading, theft became a high art in the financial |
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world. 6 consequential, important, grave, serious, weighty, |
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momentous, heinous; capital: His activities constitute high |
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treason. 7 high-pitched, high-frequency, squeaky, acute, |
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treble, soprano; shrill, strident, sharp, penetrating, piercing, |
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ear-splitting: The higher notes make my radio speaker vibrate. |
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She has an irritatingly high voice. 8 cheerful, exuberant, |
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elated, boisterous, exhilarated, hilarious, merry, excited: I |
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find his persistent high spirits rather depressing. 9 euphoric, |
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intoxicated, inebriated, drunk, drugged, Colloq loaded, tipsy, |
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turned on, on a trip, Slang stoned, spaced out, Brit squiffy, US |
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spacy, squiffed: They got high sniffing glue. 10 gamy, |
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tainted, aged, ripe, Slang Brit pongy: He likes to hang venison |
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till it is quite high. 11 chief, leading, important, principal, |
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foremost: He regards himself as the high priest of women's |
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fashion. 12 elaborate, luxurious, grand, extravagant, lavish, |
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rich, prodigal, sybaritic: With her millions she can now enjoy |
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the high life. 13 considerable, favourable, great: She is held |
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in high esteem by her colleagues. |
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--adv. 14 far up; great in extent: Daedalus warned Icarus not |
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to fly so high. I was willing to go as high as 20,000 for the |
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painting. |
--n. 15 peak, record, height, maximum, acme, apex: Employment is expected to reach a high next summer. 16 intoxication,
altered consciousness: The high lasts till the drug wears off. 17 anticyclone: The high passing over the country will bring fair weather.
highbrow n. 1 scholar, intellectual, savant, sage, mastermind, genius; aesthete, connoisseur, Colloq egghead, brain: Many who pretend to deride highbrows secretly envy them.
--adj. 2 scholarly, intellectual, learned, erudite, deep, bookish, cultured, sophisticated, cultivated, aesthetic, Colloq
brainy: Books on philosophy are too highbrow for the market we cater to.
high-class
adj. 1 first-rate, superior, better, top-drawer, Colloq tops, tiptop, A-one or A-1, super, great: He has had the benefit of a high-class education. 2 aristocratic, upper-class, ‚lite,
select, exclusive; upper crust, fancy, Brit county, US and Canadian tony, Slang classy: She says she comes from a high-class family.
highly adv. 1 greatly, much, tremendously, well, enthusiastically, warmly, immensely, hugely: Her play was highly praised by all the critics. 2 very, extremely, quite, exceptionally, extraordinarily, incomparably, decidedly: It is highly unlikely that I shall come to your party. 3 favourably, well, enthusiastically, approvingly, warmly, praisefully: They seem to think highly of him at the office. 4 well, influentially, powerfully, strongly, authoritatively, effectively, importantly:
I have the information from a highly placed government official.
hilarious adj. funny, side-splitting, humorous, comical, amusing, entertaining, mirthful; merry, gay, jolly, jovial, cheerful, cheery, joyous, joyful, rollicking, uproarious; Colloq hysterical: Binky told me a hilarious story about his aunt's pet boa constrictor. We had a hilarious time at your party.
hilarity n. laughter, gaiety, joviality, jollity, merriment, mirth, exuberance, glee, boisterousness, cheerfulness, joyfulness, jubilation, elation, revelry, conviviality, high spirits,