Head

/ˈhɛd/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang

adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.
  • Grammar: head is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: chief, principal, skull, -hood.
  • Useful contrasts: bottom, cottontail, deputy.
  • Usage evidence: I will do my best to put such an idea out of your head.

How to use "head"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "head" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "head" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "head" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "head" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "head" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "chief" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "head", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs. countable

    "Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite."

  2. 2
    oral stimulation of the genitals wordnet
  3. 3
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; Mental or emotional aptitude or skill. countable, uncountable

    "The company is looking for people with good heads for business."

  4. 4
    a single domestic animal wordnet
  5. 5
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; Mind; one's own thoughts. countable, figuratively, metonymically, uncountable

    "This song keeps going through my head."

Show 87 more definitions
  1. 6
    a membrane that is stretched taut over a drum wordnet
  2. 7
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication. countable, uncountable

    "He found whist, and gymkhanas, and things of that kind (meant to amuse one after office) good; but he took them seriously, too, just as seriously as he took the “head” that followed after drink."

  3. 8
    a projection out from one end wordnet
  4. 9
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; A headdress; a covering for the head. countable, uncountable

    "a laced head"

  5. 10
    (nautical) a toilet on board a boat or ship wordnet
  6. 11
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; An individual person. countable, figuratively, metonymically, uncountable

    "Admission is three dollars a head."

  7. 12
    the striking part of a tool wordnet
  8. 13
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; A single animal; measure word for livestock and game. countable, uncountable

    "200 head of cattle and 50 head of horses"

  9. 14
    (usually plural) the obverse side of a coin that usually bears the representation of a person's head wordnet
  10. 15
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; The population of game. countable, uncountable

    "We have a heavy head of deer this year."

  11. 16
    (computer science) a tiny electromagnetic coil and metal pole used to write and read magnetic patterns on a disk wordnet
  12. 17
    The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.; To do with heads.; The antlers of a deer. countable, uncountable
  13. 18
    that part of a skeletal muscle that is away from the bone that it moves wordnet
  14. 19
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part. countable

    "What does it say at the head of the page?"

  15. 20
    the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains wordnet
  16. 21
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The end of a table.; The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor. countable, uncountable

    "During meetings, the supervisor usually sits at the head of the table."

  17. 22
    the rounded end of a bone that fits into a rounded cavity in another bone to form a joint wordnet
  18. 23
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The end of a table.; The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked. countable, uncountable
  19. 24
    that which is responsible for one's thoughts, feelings, and conscious brain functions; the seat of the faculty of reason wordnet
  20. 25
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The end of a hammer, axe, golf club, or similar implement used for striking other objects. countable, uncountable
  21. 26
    (grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent wordnet
  22. 27
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The end of a nail, screw, bolt, or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide. countable, uncountable

    "Hit the nail on the head!"

  23. 28
    a line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about wordnet
  24. 29
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The larger-diameter end of an unused rivet, properly the factory head or ambiguously the shop head, as opposed to the bucktail which is passed through the items to be fastened and then upset into an appropriate shape, generally pancake-shaped for a solid rivet or doughnut-shaped for a blind rivet, called the field head or ambiguously the shop head. countable, uncountable
  25. 30
    the subject matter at issue wordnet
  26. 31
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; Either, or in plural both, ends of a used rivet, the factory head and the field head. countable, uncountable
  27. 32
    a V-shaped mark at one end of an arrow pointer wordnet
  28. 33
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The sharp end of an arrow, spear, or pointer. countable, uncountable

    "The head of the compass needle is pointing due north."

  29. 34
    forward movement wordnet
  30. 35
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball. countable, uncountable
  31. 36
    a difficult juncture wordnet
  32. 37
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound. countable, uncountable

    "Tap the head of the drum for this roll."

  33. 38
    the front of a military formation or procession wordnet
  34. 39
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium. countable, uncountable

    "The heads of your tape player need to be cleaned."

  35. 40
    the source of water from which a stream arises wordnet
  36. 41
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data. countable, uncountable
  37. 42
    the part in the front or nearest the viewer wordnet
  38. 43
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs. countable, uncountable
  39. 44
    the top of something wordnet
  40. 45
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The principal operative part of a machine, tool or fastener.; A milling head, a part of a milling machine that houses the spindle. countable, uncountable
  41. 46
    the foam or froth that accumulates at the top when you pour an effervescent liquid into a container wordnet
  42. 47
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages. countable, uncountable

    "Pour me a fresh beer; this one has no head."

  43. 48
    a rounded compact mass wordnet
  44. 49
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel. countable, uncountable
  45. 50
    a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea) wordnet
  46. 51
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The end cap of a cask or other barrel. countable, uncountable
  47. 52
    a user of (usually soft) drugs wordnet
  48. 53
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The uppermost part of a valley. countable, uncountable
  49. 54
    a person who is in charge wordnet
  50. 55
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; Deposits near the top of a geological succession. British, countable, uncountable
  51. 56
    an individual person wordnet
  52. 57
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; Ellipsis of headline. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable

    "The content of a headline over a news story should be taken from the lead of the story. […] The head should give the same impression as the body of the story."

  53. 58
    the educator who has executive authority for a school wordnet
  54. 59
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The end of an abscess where pus collects. countable, uncountable
  55. 60
    the pressure exerted by a fluid wordnet
  56. 61
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; The headstock of a guitar. countable, uncountable
  57. 62
    a dense cluster of flowers or foliage wordnet
  58. 63
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; A leading component.; The top edge of a sail. countable, uncountable
  59. 64
    the length or height based on the size of a human or animal head wordnet
  60. 65
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; A leading component.; The bow of a vessel. countable, uncountable
  61. 66
    the tip of an abscess (where the pus accumulates) wordnet
  62. 67
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; A headland. British, countable, uncountable
  63. 68
    The topmost, foremost, or leading part.; A title or heading in a book or other document. countable, uncountable

    "In this repositary, the phenomena of nature are ranged under three principal heads."

  64. 69
    A leader or expert. countable, metonymically

    "I'd like to speak to the head of the department."

  65. 70
    A leader or expert.; The place of honor or command; the most important or foremost position; the front. countable, metonymically, uncountable

    "We saw the last Campaign that an Army of Fourscore Thousand of the best Troops in Europe, with the Duke of Marlborough at the Head of them, cou'd do nothing against an Enemy that were too numerous to be assaulted in their Camps, or attack'd in their Strong Holds."

  66. 71
    A leader or expert.; A headteacher. Ireland, UK, countable, metonymically, uncountable

    "At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...' / She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking. / As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted."

  67. 72
    A leader or expert.; A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop. countable, figuratively, metonymically, slang, uncountable

    "Only true heads know this."

  68. 73
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it. countable, uncountable

    "The expedition followed the river all the way to the head."

  69. 74
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum. countable, uncountable

    "Give me a head of lettuce."

  70. 75
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.; An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal. countable, uncountable
  71. 76
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum.; The leafy top part of a tree. countable, uncountable
  72. 77
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint. countable, uncountable
  73. 78
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; The toilet of a ship. countable, uncountable

    "I've got to go to the head."

  74. 79
    A significant or important part.; A beginning or end, a protuberance.; Tiles laid at the eaves of a house. countable, in-plural, uncountable

    "Heads. (Roofing.) Tiles which are laid at the eaves of a house"

  75. 80
    A significant or important part.; A component.; The principal melody or theme of a piece. countable, uncountable
  76. 81
    A significant or important part.; A component.; A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member. countable, uncountable

    "Holonym: phrase"

  77. 82
    A significant or important part.; A component.; The first fraction of a distillation run, having a low boiling point. countable, uncountable
  78. 83
    Headway; progress. countable, uncountable

    "We are having a difficult time making head against this wind."

  79. 84
    Topic; subject. countable, uncountable

    "We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements."

  80. 85
    Denouement; crisis. countable, singular, uncountable

    "These issues are going to come to a head today."

  81. 86
    Pressure and energy.; A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head. countable, uncountable

    "Let the engine build up a good head of steam."

  82. 87
    Pressure and energy.; The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point. countable, uncountable
  83. 88
    Pressure and energy.; More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight. countable, uncountable
  84. 89
    Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex. slang, uncountable, vulgar

    "She gave great head."

  85. 90
    The glans penis. countable, slang, uncountable
  86. 91
    A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs. countable, slang

    "Then I saw the more advanced narcotic addicts, who shot unbelievable doses of powerful heroin in the main line – the vein of their arms; the hysien users; chloroform sniffers, who belonged to the riff-raff element of the dope chippeys, who mingled freely with others of their kind; canned heat stiffs, paragoric hounds, laudanum fiends, and last but not least, the veronal heads."

  87. 92
    Power; armed force. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head:"

Verb
  1. 1
    To be in command of. (See also head up.) transitive

    "Who heads the board of trustees?"

  2. 2
    remove the head of wordnet
  3. 3
    To come at the beginning or front of; to commence. transitive

    "A group of clowns headed the procession."

  4. 4
    direct the course; determine the direction of travelling wordnet
  5. 5
    To strike with the head transitive

    "to head the ball"

Show 18 more definitions
  1. 6
    to go or travel towards wordnet
  2. 7
    To move in a specified direction. intransitive

    "We are going to head up North for our holiday."

  3. 8
    travel in front of; go in advance of others wordnet
  4. 9
    To remove the head from (a fish). transitive

    "Near-synonyms: behead, dehead"

  5. 10
    be in charge of wordnet
  6. 11
    To originate; to spring; to have its course, as a river. intransitive

    "a broad purling river, that heads in the great blue ridge of mountains,"

  7. 12
    form a head or come or grow to a head wordnet
  8. 13
    To form a head. intransitive

    "This kind of cabbage heads early."

  9. 14
    be in the front of or on top of wordnet
  10. 15
    To form a head (on or to); to fit or furnish (something) with a head. transitive

    "to head a nail"

  11. 16
    be the first or leading member of (a group) and excel wordnet
  12. 17
    To cut off the top of; to lop off. transitive

    "to head trees"

  13. 18
    take its rise wordnet
  14. 19
    To behead; to decapitate. obsolete, transitive

    "I tell thee, man of God, the uncharitableness of the sect to which thou pertainest has thronged the land of punishment as much as those who headed, and hanged, and stabbed, and shot, and tortured."

  15. 20
    To go in front of.

    "to head a drove of cattle"

  16. 21
    To get in the front of, so as to hinder or stop; to oppose.

    "The wind headed the ship and made progress difficult."

  17. 22
    To check or restrain. broadly
  18. 23
    To set on the head.

    "to head a cask"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, relating to, or intended for the head. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Foremost in rank or importance. not-comparable

    "the head cook"

  3. 3
    Placed at the top or the front. not-comparable
  4. 4
    Coming from in front. not-comparable

    "head sea"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Middle English, from residence near a hilltop or the head of a river, or a byname for someone with an odd-looking head.

Synonyms

All synonyms
chiefprincipalskull-hooda per seabbreviation

Example

"I will do my best to put such an idea out of your head."

Common questions

What does "head" mean?

The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth, and main sense organs.

What is a synonym for "head"?

Common synonyms include: chief, principal, skull, -hood, a per se, abbreviation.

How do you use "head" in a sentence?

I will do my best to put such an idea out of your head.

How do you pronounce "head"?

Pronounced /ˈhɛd/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *káput- Proto-Germanic *haubudą Old English hēafod Middle English heed English head From Middle English hed heed, from Old English hēafd-, hēafod (“head, top, chief”), from Proto-West Germanic *haubud, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą (“head”), from Proto-Indo-European *káput. The modern word comes from Old English oblique stem hēafd-; the expected Modern English outcome for hēafod would be *heaved (similar to the Middle English word). Doublet of cape, capo, caput, chef, chief, and Howth. Cognate with Old English hafela (“head”), Scots heid, hede, hevid, heved (“head”), North Frisian hood (“head”), Dutch hoofd (“head”), German Haupt (“head”), Danish hoved (“head”), Faroese høvd, høvur (“head”), Icelandic höfuð (“head”), Norn heved (“head”), Norwegian hode (“head”), hoved- (“head, chief, main, principal”), Swedish huvud (“head”), Latin caput (“head”), Hindi कपाल (kapāl, “skull”), Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English heed, from Old English hēafod- (“main”), from Proto-West Germanic *haubida-, derived from the noun *haubid (“head”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian hööft-, West Frisian haad-, Dutch hoofd-, German Low German höövd-, German haupt-.

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