Definition of HEINOUS

heinous

Adjective Satellite

  • extremely wicked, deeply criminal
    • "heinous accusations"

Adj

  • Totally reprehensible.
  • Bad, evil or villainous.

Adjective

  • Utterly odious or wicked; extremely evil or reprehensible.

Examples

  • I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime.
  • Missing that seven-letter bonus was a heinous mistake, costing him the game.
  • The perpetrators of this heinous act must be brought to justice.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English hainous, from Old French haïneus (compare French haineux) from haïr (“to hate”), hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French enhadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to 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.

Antonyms

unheinous

Scrabble Score: 10

heinous: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
heinous: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
heinous: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

heinous: valid Words With Friends Word