heinous

English

WOTD – 16 January 2010

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French haïneus (compare French haineux) from haïr (“to hate”), hadir (“to hate”)(compare Old French enhadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  *hatjan (“to hate”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈheɪnəs/
• IPA^(key): /ˈhiːnəs/

• Audio (UK):

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• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -eɪnəs

Adjective

heinous (comparative more heinous, superlative most heinous)

1. Totally reprehensible.

   I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime.

   The perpetrators of this heinous act must be brought to justice.

   The government denounced the attack as the most heinous of the last decade.

   Political Leaders from around the world have condemned these heinous acts.

   In our public services sorry seems to be the most heinous word.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "heinous" is often applied: crime, act, sin, murder, offence.

Synonyms

• (totally reprehensible): abominable, horrible, odious

Antonyms

• unheinous (rare)

Derived terms

• unheinous

Translations

totally reprehensible

• Armenian: զզվելի (hy) (zzveli), նողկալի (hy) (noġkali), գարշելի (hy) (garšeli), անպետք (hy) (anpetkʻ), սարսափելի (hy) (sarsapʻeli), զարհուրելի (hy) (zarhureli)
• Bulgarian: отвратителен (bg) (otvratitelen), гнусен (bg) (gnusen)
• Czech: ohavný, odporný (cs)
• Danish: afskyelig (da), frygtelig, grufuld, motbydelig
• Dutch: afschuwelijk (nl), afgrijselijk (nl), afschrikwekkend (nl), verschrikkelijk (nl), verwerpelijk (nl)
• Faroese: andstyggiligur
• Finnish: katala (fi), kauhea (fi), hirvittävä (fi)
• French: atroce (fr)
• Galician: atroz (gl)
• German: abscheulich (de), verabscheuungswürdig (de)
• Greek: στυγερός (el) m (stygerós), αποτρόπαιος (el) m (apotrópaios), απεχθής (el) m (apechthís), μισητός (el) m (misitós)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: förtelmes (hu), szörnyű (hu)
• Icelandic: viðbjóðslegur (is)
• Italian: efferato (it), abominevole (it), odioso (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: avskyelig, motbydelig (no)

  Nynorsk: avskyeleg

• Portuguese: hediondo (pt)
• Russian: гну́сный (ru) (gnúsnyj), ме́рзкий (ru) (mérzkij), отврати́тельный (ru) (otvratítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: atroz (es)
• Swedish: avskyvärd (sv), vedervärdig (sv), förfärlig (sv), ohygglig (sv), skändlig (sv)

Anagrams

• in house, in-house, inhouse