What does "heavy" mean?
A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.
Heavy
/ˈhɛv.i/ adj, adv, noun, verb, slang
adj, adv, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts.
- Grammar: heavy is listed as adj, adv, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: arduous, dense, ponderous, weighty.
- Useful contrasts: glad, light, scrawny.
- Usage evidence: I'm glad we didn't go there because there were some localized heavy rain showers.
How to use "heavy"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "heavy" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- 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 "heavy" 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 "heavy" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "heavy" 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 "heavy" is acting as adj, adv, 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 "arduous" 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 "heavy", 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 A villain or bad guy; the one responsible for evil or aggressive acts. slang
"With his wrinkled, uneven face, the actor always seemed to play the heavy in films."
- 2 a serious (or tragic) role in a play wordnet
- 3 A doorman, bouncer or bodyguard. slang
"A fight started outside the bar but the heavies came out and stopped it."
- 4 an actor who plays villainous roles wordnet
- 5 A prominent figure; a "major player".
"A collection of topical themes and love songs, featuring session work by women's music "heavies" Holly Near, Mary Watkins, Linda Tillery, Robin Flower, and others."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 A newspaper of the quality press. in-plural, slang
"The comment may be offered here that the 'heavies' have been the Design Award's principal scorers, both in the overall bronze plaque days and, since, in the Daily/Sunday Class 1."
- 7 A relatively large multi-engined aircraft.
"I read five heavies, maybe transports or tankers...could be bombers."
- 8 A serious theatrical role. archaic, slang
"Payton boasted his range included "leading parts or genteel heavies, character old men, dialect parts, old women and, on occasion, soubrettes and leading ladies"; however, he was most at ease in light comedy roles."
- 9 A member of the heavy cavalry. historical
"Cavalry […] is divided into mediums, heavies, and light cavalry. The mediums consist of 13 regiments; the heavies of 2 regiments; and the light of 13."
Verb
- 1 To make heavier. often
"They piled their goods on the donkey's back, heavying up an already backbreaking load."
- 2 To sadden.
- 3 To use power or wealth to exert influence on, e.g., governments or corporations; to pressure. Australia, New-Zealand, informal
"The union was well known for the methods it used to heavy many businesses."
Adjective
- 1 Having great weight.
"Can you help me carry this? It's really heavy."
- 2 Having the heaves.
"a heavy horse"
- 3 Having great weight.; Heavyset: overweight.
"When he was a child he was rather heavy, but today he is impressively fit."
- 4 Serious, somber.
""We're still in an existential-stakes war with the Pa'anuri, and possibly with our own destructive tendencies." ' "Sorry. That was pretty heavy for someone who just woke up." "Oh, I'm fine. Waking up alive has ALWAYS meant spending the day trying not to be dead.""
- 5 Not easy to bear; burdensome; oppressive.
"heavy yokes, expenses, undertakings, trials, news, etc."
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 Good. British, dated, slang
"This film is heavy."
- 7 Profound. US, dated
"The Moody Blues are, like, heavy."
- 8 High, great.
"1998, Stanley George Clayton, ""Menstruation" in Encyclopedia Britannica The ovarian response to gonadotropic hormones may be erratic at first, so that irregular or heavy bleeding sometimes occurs"
- 9 Armed. slang
"Come heavy, or not at all."
- 10 Loud, distorted, or intense.
"Metal is heavier than rock."
- 11 Hot and humid.
- 12 Doing the specified activity more intensely than most other people.
"This car is too heavy on gas."
- 13 With eyelids difficult to keep open due to tiredness.
"Watch for the signs of fatigue, including yawning, blinking and heavy eyes."
- 14 High in fat or protein; difficult to digest.
"Cheese-stuffed sausage is too heavy to eat before exercising."
- 15 Of great force, power, or intensity; deep or intense.
"it was a heavy storm; a heavy slumber in bed; a heavy punch"
- 16 Laden with that which is weighty; encumbered; burdened; bowed down, either with an actual burden, or with grief, pain, disappointment, etc.
"his eyes were heavy with sleep; she was heavy with child"
- 17 Slow; sluggish; inactive; or lifeless, dull, inanimate, stupid.
"a heavy gait, looks, manners, style, etc."
- 18 Impeding motion; cloggy; clayey.
"The next day we only made some eight miles, as the road was heavy beyond all belief. It lay through a desert region of country which was ancle-deep ^([sic]) in soda and alkali dust."
- 19 Not raised or leavened.
"heavy bread"
- 20 Having much body or strength.
- 21 With child; pregnant. obsolete
- 22 Containing one or more isotopes that are heavier than the normal one.
- 23 Of petroleum, having high viscosity.
- 24 Of a market: in which the price of shares is declining.
"The very low prices of brandy, and the continuance of a heavy market for such a length of time, have begun to attract buyers; […]"
- 25 Heavily-armed.
- 26 Having a relatively high takeoff weight and payload.
- 27 Having a relatively high takeoff weight and payload.; Having a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 300,000 tons, as almost all widebodies do, generating high wake turbulence.
"In a firm voice he said, “World Wide Six heavy is ready for takeoff.”"
Adjective
- 1 in an advanced stage of pregnancy wordnet
- 2 darkened by clouds wordnet
- 3 (used of soil) compact and fine-grained wordnet
- 4 (of sleep) deep and complete wordnet
- 5 lacking lightness or liveliness wordnet
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort wordnet
- 7 requiring or showing effort wordnet
- 8 usually describes a large person who is fat but has a large frame to carry it wordnet
- 9 full of; bearing great weight wordnet
- 10 sharply inclined wordnet
- 11 dense or inadequately leavened and hence likely to cause distress in the alimentary canal wordnet
- 12 of comparatively great physical weight or density wordnet
- 13 large and powerful; especially designed for heavy loads or rough work wordnet
- 14 marked by great psychological weight; weighted down especially with sadness or troubles or weariness wordnet
- 15 unusually great in degree or quantity or number wordnet
- 16 (physics, chemistry) being or containing an isotope with greater than average atomic mass or weight wordnet
- 17 of great intensity or power or force wordnet
- 18 slow and laborious because of weight wordnet
- 19 of the military or industry; using (or being) the heaviest and most powerful armaments or weapons or equipment wordnet
- 20 of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought wordnet
- 21 given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors wordnet
- 22 full and loud and deep wordnet
- 23 prodigious wordnet
- 24 made of fabric having considerable thickness wordnet
- 25 of relatively large extent and density wordnet
- 26 permitting little if any light to pass through because of denseness of matter wordnet
- 27 (of an actor or role) being or playing the villain wordnet
Adverb
- 1 In a heavy manner; weightily; heavily; gravely.
"Heavy-laden with their sins, time hung heavy"
- 2 To a great degree; greatly. colloquial, nonstandard
"Olive: What was it - booze? Barney: Yeh. Been hitting it pretty heavy."
- 3 very India, colloquial
Adverb
- 1 slowly as if burdened by much weight wordnet
Example
"I'm glad we didn't go there because there were some localized heavy rain showers."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "heavy"?
Common synonyms include: arduous, dense, ponderous, weighty, abeyant, abstruse.
How do you use "heavy" in a sentence?
I'm glad we didn't go there because there were some localized heavy rain showers.
How do you pronounce "heavy"?
Pronounced /ˈhɛv.i/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English hevy, heviȝ, from Old English hefiġ, hefeġ, hæfiġ (“heavy; important, grave, severe, serious; oppressive, grievous; slow, dull”), from Proto-West Germanic *habīg (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Germanic *habīgaz (“heavy, hefty, weighty”), from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to take, grasp, hold”). Related to have. Cognate with Scots hevy, havy, heavy (“heavy”), Saterland Frisian heeuwich, häwich (“violent, angry”), West Frisian hevich (“violent”), Dutch hevig (“violent, severe, intense, acute”), German Low German hevig (“violent, fierce, intense, angry”), German hebig (compare heftig (“fierce, severe, intense, violent, heavy”)), Icelandic höfugur (“heavy, weighty, important”), Latin capāx (“large, wide, roomy, spacious, capacious, capable, apt”). Compare typologically Russian объёмный (obʺjómnyj), ёмкий (jómkij) (akin to име́ть (imétʹ), взять (vzjatʹ)).
Etymology 2
From heave + -y.