heedful
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of heedful
Explanation
Being heedful means paying careful attention to something (or someone). You'll want to be especially heedful of your best friend's feelings if he's having a bad week. If you're heedful, you're mindful or attentive. You should be heedful of drinking plenty of water when you work outside on a hot summer day, and heedful of the crumbling stone steps if you're exploring the ruins of an old building. It's also important to be heedful of the way other people feel. This adjective comes from heed, "careful attention," and its Old English root hedan, "observe or protect."
Vocabulary lists containing heedful
The Odyssey
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All's Well That Ends Well
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The Comedy of Errors
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Heedful of these complaints, the Reagan Administration has been trying to coax the Japanese into allowing the yen to rise in value.
From Time Magazine Archive
There a little tree upclimbing, Heedful to the leafy summit,220 That the eagle may not seize thee, Nor the bird of air may grasp thee.
From Kalevala, Volume I (of 2) The Land of the Heroes by Kirby, W. F. (William Forsell)
Heedful of the warning, she came in a couple of feet and swung upon it tentatively and carefully till something gave and Jacob Welse shoved his muddy face into the air.
From A Daughter of the Snows by London, Jack
Deacon Heedful arrived even sooner than she had anticipated—and most unexpected to her was his account of the spreading influence that had so mysteriously come to light.
From Graham's Magazine, Vol XXXIII, No. 6, December 1848 by Various
Heedful men live on for ever; they who heed not are as dead.
From The Buddha's Path of Virtue A Translation of the Dhammapada by Woodward, Frank Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
