head
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hehdIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɛd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
A single domestic animal
plural head
A single animal; measure word for livestock and game.
countable
The topmost, foremost, or leading part.
The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor.
The population of game.
adjective
Foremost in rank or importance.
Placed at the top or the front.
Coming from in front.
Of, relating to, or intended for the head.
verb
transitive
To be in command of.
transitive
To come at the beginning or front of; to commence.
transitiveof hardware
To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) with a head.
intransitive
To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river.
transitive
To cut off the top of; to lop off.
To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
Used this way, head is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- drumhead , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use head
- “He is two heads taller than his little sister.”noun
- “He stuck his head out the window.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about.
A line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about.
Having a heading or caption.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Not having a head or formed without a head.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
In direct opposition.
Prevent the occurrence of.
The chief public representative of a country who may also be the head of government.
The head of a household or family or tribe.
Growth of hair covering the scalp of a human being.
The person in charge of nursing in a medical institution.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The heading or caption of a newspaper article.
A vertical board or panel forming the head of a bedstead.
A band worn around or over the head.
Clothing for the head.
With the head foremost.
A photograph of a person's head.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: part of the body of an animal
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.