heinous
adjectiveattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈheɪnəs//
- United Kingdom//ˈhiːnəs//
Totally reprehensible.
adjective
- 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.
Perhaps burdened by the weight of history, talk of the heinous 2-2 draw in 2002, or the magnitude of the fixture, Scotland seemed spooked in the early throes.
- 2
Bad, evil or villainous.
Etymology
From Middle English heynous, from Anglo-Norman hainous, heinous (compare French haineux) from Old French haïr, hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French en-hadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”) (compare Middle English hetien). More at hate. The fluctuation between pronunciations with /eɪ/ and /iː/ is old; the former reflects adoption of an unmonophthongised pronunciation of Old French -ai-, while the latter reflects a monophthongised form.
Forms
- comparative
- more heinous
- superlative
- most heinous