heterogeneous
adjective
Simple meaning
Made up of elements that are not of the same kind or nature.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hehteruhjeenyuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
hɛtɚəˈdʒinjəs
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
Consisting of elements that are not of the same kind or nature
“The population of the United States is vast and heterogeneous.”
Diverse in kind or nature; composed of diverse parts.
chemistry
Visibly consisting of different components.
physicschemistry
Having more than one phase (solid, liquid, gas) present in a system or process.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Consisting of elements that are not of the same kind or nature
Used this way, heterogeneous is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The population of the United States is vast and heterogeneous.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- 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 heterogeneous
- “The population of the United States is vast and heterogeneous.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Consisting
Originating
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The quality of being diverse and not comparable in kind.
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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.