Helmet

//ˈhɛlmɪt// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

    "Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet."

  2. 2
    a protective headgear made of hard material to resist blows wordnet
  3. 3
    A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.; Such a helm when placed above a shield on a coat of arms.
  4. 4
    armor plate that protects the head wordnet
  5. 5
    That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.; The upper part of a chemist's retort.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.; The hood-shaped upper sepal or petal of some flowers, as of the monkshood or the snapdragon.
  2. 7
    That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.; A naked shield or protuberance on the top or fore part of the head of a bird.
  3. 8
    That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.; The glans penis.
  4. 9
    That which resembles a helmet in form, position, etc.; The glans penis.; A contemptible or stupid person. broadly, derogatory

    "Jarvo’s a stinky old helmet."

Verb
  1. 1
    To cover with, or as if with, a helmet. transitive

    "There was no nonsense about these women—no hysteria, no top-note emotion. They were not out for smashing windows or helmetting policemen, or blowing up things sky-high."

Synonyms

All synonyms
helmachievementaegisalerionanimal chargeannulet

Antonyms

All antonyms
armor

Example

More examples

"You're playing with fire if you insist on riding your motorcycle without a helmet on."

Etymology

From Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, a diminutive of helme (Modern French heaume), equivalent to helm + -et. The Old French is itself of Germanic origin (whence Old English helm). Used in English since the 15th century, it has largely displaced helm as the general word.

Related phrases

Corinthian helmetbalaclava helmetbeer helmetbicycle helmetblue helmetblue-helmetclose helmetcoal scuttle helmetcombat helmetconstruction helmetcrash helmetcrash-helmet

More for "helmet"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.