Hence Meaning
/ˈhɛns/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
advFrom here, from this place, away.
advFrom the living or from this world.
Sentence Examples
Hence 50 percent of the muscle can give way to fat.
Hence, I shall have to stay here.
Hence the need for an independent inquiry.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The road was closed, ____ we had to take another route.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The roads were flooded ____, we were forced to cancel our trip and stay home for the weekend.
Word Origin & History
A later Middle English spelling, retaining the voiceless -s, of hennes (henne + adverbial genitive ending -s), from Old English heonan (“away", "hence”), from a Proto-West Germanic *hin-, from Proto-Germanic *hiz, and Proto-Germanic *-anē. Cognate with Old Saxon hinan, Old High German hinnan (German hinnen), Dutch heen, Swedish hän. Related to Old English her (“here”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"O Gertrude, come away: / The sun no ſooner ſhall the Mountaines touch, / But we will ſhip him hence,"
— c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 272, column 1:
"Ye men of Galilee! / Why stand ye looking up to heaven, where Him ye ne’er may see, / Neither ascending hence, nor returning hither again?"
— 1849, Arthur Hugh Clough, Easter Day (Naples, 1849):
"`Now leave me,' she said, `and sleep if ye may. I must watch and think, for to-morrow night we go hence, and the time is long since I trod the path that we must follow.'"
— 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
"[…]And now farewell / Till half an hour hence."
— 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
"There may be an occasion to do so two years hence."
— 2024, Marshall H. Tanick, “Diversity on the bench should not only be about gender and race”, in MinnPost:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The road was closed, ____ we had to take another route.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The roads were flooded ____, we were forced to cancel our trip and stay home for the weekend.