heroic
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Of a size larger than life, but less than colossal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hihrohikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
hɪˈɹoʊɪk
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.
adjective
Of or relating to a hero or heroine; supremely noble.
Courageous; displaying heroism.
sculpture
Of a size larger than life, but less than colossal.
noun
A verse form suited to the treatment of heroic or elevated themes; dactylic hexameter or iambic pentameter
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to a hero or heroine; supremely noble.
Used this way, heroic is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use heroic
- “The firefighter made a heroic effort to rescue the kitten from the burning building.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The qualities of a hero or heroine.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds.
Poetry celebrating the deeds of some hero.
A quatrain consisting of two heroic couplets written in an elevated style.
A story of an adventure.
A verse form suited to the treatment of heroic or elevated themes.
A couplet consisting of two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter and written in an elevated style.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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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.