Meanings
comparative more heinous · superlative most heinous · alternative obsolete hainous
- Totally reprehensible.
I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime.
2 more examples
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.
2021 October 12, Jamie Lyall, “Faroe Islands 0-1 Scotland”, in BBC SportSynonyms: abominable, horrible, odious
- Bad, evil or villainous.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveTotally reprehensible.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveextremely wicked, deeply criminal
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frankish*hattjan“to hate”
- Old Frenchhaïr
- Anglo-Normanhainous
- Middle Englishheynous
- Englishheinous
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.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian отвратителен, гнусен
- отвратителен (otvratitelen)totally reprehensible
- гнусен (gnusen)totally reprehensible
Czech ohavný, odporný
- ohavnýtotally reprehensible
- odpornýtotally reprehensible
Danish afskyelig, frygtelig
- afskyeligtotally reprehensible
- frygteligtotally reprehensible
- grufuldtotally reprehensible
- motbydeligtotally reprehensible
Dutch afschuwelijk, afgrijselijk
- afschuwelijktotally reprehensible
- afgrijselijktotally reprehensible
- afschrikwekkendtotally reprehensible
- verschrikkelijktotally reprehensible
- verwerpelijktotally reprehensible
Finnish katala, kauhea
- katalatotally reprehensible
- kauheatotally reprehensible
- hirvittävätotally reprehensible
French atroce
- atrocetotally reprehensible
German abscheulich, verabscheuungswürdig
- abscheulichtotally reprehensible
- verabscheuungswürdigtotally reprehensible
Greek στυγερός, αποτρόπαιος
- στυγερός (stygerós)totally reprehensible
- αποτρόπαιος (apotrópaios)totally reprehensible
- απεχθής (apechthís)totally reprehensible
- μισητός (misitós)totally reprehensible
Hungarian förtelmes, szörnyű
- förtelmestotally reprehensible
- szörnyűtotally reprehensible
Icelandic viðbjóðslegur
- viðbjóðslegurtotally reprehensible
Italian efferato, abominevole
- efferatototally reprehensible
- abominevoletotally reprehensible
- odiosototally reprehensible
Māori whakarihariha, mōrihariha
- whakariharihatotally reprehensible
- mōriharihatotally reprehensible
Norwegian Bokmål avskyelig, motbydelig
- avskyeligtotally reprehensible
- motbydeligtotally reprehensible
Portuguese hediondo
- hediondototally reprehensible
Russian гну́сный, ме́рзкий
- гну́сный (gnúsnyj)totally reprehensible
- ме́рзкий (mérzkij)totally reprehensible
- отврати́тельный (otvratítelʹnyj)totally reprehensible
Swedish avskyvärd, vedervärdig
- avskyvärdtotally reprehensible
- vedervärdigtotally reprehensible
- förfärligtotally reprehensible
- ohyggligtotally reprehensible
- skändligtotally reprehensible
Tagalog karumal-dumal
- karumal-dumaltotally reprehensible
Ukrainian жахли́вий, оги́дний
- жахли́вий (žaxlývyj)totally reprehensible
- оги́дний (ohýdnyj)totally reprehensible
- мерзе́нний (merzénnyj)totally reprehensible
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with heinous
All rhymes →Cite this entry
heinous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heinous
“heinous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heinous. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heinous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heinous.
Source: heinous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.