heinous

(hā'nəs)
adj.
Grossly wicked or reprehensible; abominable: a heinous crime.

[Middle English, from Old French haineus, from haine, hatred, from hair, to hate, from Frankish *hatjan.]

heinously hei'nous·ly adv.
heinousness hei'nous·ness n.

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meaning 'extremely wicked', is pronounced hee-nǝs.

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adjective

Disgracefully and grossly offensive: atrocious, monstrous, outrageous, scandalous, shocking. Archaic enormous. See right/wrong.

adj

Definition: horrifying, monstrous
Antonyms: admirable, glorious, good, lovely, magnificent, wonderful

n. bad; bad-looking; horrible, as in heinous crime. (A standard English word, used in a slangy context.)  Where on earth did you get that heinous outfit?

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IN BRIEF: Very evil or wicked.

Such a brutal and heinous crime deserves the maximum prison sentence.

Tutor's tip: Dissection in biology class examines all parts of a specimen, including the "anus" (excretory organ), so skipping class that day would not be a "heinous" (abominable) crime.

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For a list of words related to heinous, see:

• Bad, False, Evil, Insincere, or Dishonest

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See words rhyming with "heinous."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Heinous.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - rystende, afskyelig, grufuld

Nederlands (Dutch)
gruwelijk

Français (French)
adj. - odieux, abominable

Deutsch (German)
adj. - abscheulich, schändlich

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - αποτρόπαιος, ειδεχθής, στυγερός, απαίσιος

Italiano (Italian)
atroce

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - horrendo

Русский (Russian)
ужасный, отвратительный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - nefando, atroz

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - skändig, avskyvärd

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
可憎的, 极恶的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 可憎的, 極惡的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 가증스러운, 극악한, 밉살맞은

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 憎むべき, 極悪な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) شائن, شنيع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮נתעב, שפל‬

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