The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

heated adj. impassioned, excited, intensified, aroused, quickened, stimulated, inflamed, vehement, fiery, frenzied, frantic, frenetic, passionate, fervent, fervid, ardent, intense, furious, stormy, tempestuous, violent; angry, bitter: There was a heated dispute over animal rights, which finally led to blows.

heathen n. 1 unbeliever, infidel, pagan, idolater or idolatress, polytheist, atheist, nullifidian, sceptic, agnostic, heretic: One often finds more mercy in a heathen than in a brother Christian.

--adj. 2 infidel, pagan, atheist(ic), godless, nullifidian, sceptic(al), doubting, agnostic, heretical, irreligious: After the missionaries left, the tribe returned to their heathen practices. 3 savage, barbarian, barbaric, uncivilized, primitive, unenlightened, uncultured, Philistine; polytheistic, pantheistic: Each of these tribesmen carries with him a tiny sculptured image of the heathen god.

heave v. 1 raise, lift, hoist, haul, pull, draw, tug; move: We heaved in the anchor and made sail. 2 throw, toss, hurl, fling, cast, sling, pitch, let fly, send, launch, Colloq peg, chuck: When he heaved the sword into the lake a hand rose from the waters and caught it. 3 breathe, utter, sigh, groan, moan, gasp: We heaved a sigh of relief when we heard that they had been found. 4 gag, retch, vomit, be sick, regurgitate, disgorge, Colloq throw up, Slang puke, lose one's lunch, return one's dinner, US upchuck, spiff one's biscuits: The smell of petrol always makes me heave.

heaven n. 1 paradise, bliss, hereafter, nirvana, Abraham's bosom, Elysian Fields or Elysium, Valhalla, Zion, happy hunting-grounds, Avalon, Isles of the Blessed, the Blessed or Fortunate or Happy Isles or Islands: Will I go to heaven when I die? 2 heavens. sky, skies, firmament, Literary welkin, empyrean: The heavens opened and the rain started to pour down. 3 happiness, bliss, joy, rapture, ecstasy, paradise,

contentment, seventh heaven, Eden, Garden of Eden, Utopia, heaven on earth, paradise on earth: Darby said that his years with Joan had been sheer heaven.

heavenly adj. 1 divine, angelic, seraphic, celestial, holy, immortal, blessed, beatific, beatified, spiritual, saintly; supernal,

unearthly, 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.

--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,

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,

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 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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,