Heinous Meaning
/ˈheɪnəs/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjTotally reprehensible.
adjBad, evil or villainous.
Sentence Examples
Any murder is gruesome but this one was especially heinous.
Tom was the victim of a heinous crime.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The criminal committed a ____ crime that shocked everyone.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The criminal was sentenced to life in prison for his ____ crimes against the local community.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English hainous, from Old French haïneus (compare French haineux) from haïr (“to hate”), hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French en-hadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”) (compare Middle English hetien). More at hate. The fluctuation between pronunciations with /eɪ/ and /iː/ is old; the former reflects adoption of an unmonophthongised pronunciation of Old French -ai-, while the latter reflects a monophthongised form.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Perhaps burdened by the weight of history, talk of the heinous 2-2 draw in 2002, or the magnitude of the fixture, Scotland seemed spooked in the early throes."
— 2021 October 12, Jamie Lyall, “Faroe Islands 0-1 Scotland”, in BBC Sport:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The criminal committed a ____ crime that shocked everyone.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The criminal was sentenced to life in prison for his ____ crimes against the local community.