heavy metal
Americannoun
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heavy metals
plural
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any metal with a specific gravity of 5.0 or greater, especially one that is toxic to organisms, as lead, mercury, copper, and cadmium.
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aggressive and heavily amplified rock music, commonly performed by groups that wear spectacular or bizarre costumes.
noun
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a type of rock music characterized by a strong beat and amplified instrumental effects, sometimes with violent, or nihilistic lyrics
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( as modifier )
a heavy-metal band
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a metal with a high specific gravity
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military large guns or shot
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of heavy metal
1860–65, for literal sense
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.
Testing revealed that water samples from her bottle contained levels of the toxic heavy metal cadmium far above the federal limit for drinking water, according to court documents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Authorities deployed thousands of security personnel across central Delhi for a third straight day, erecting heavy metal barricades and closing key metro stations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
“They didn’t even need to break into the strongroom,” Al-Abideen said bitterly, looking at a heavy metal door secured with multiple bolts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
They said these often contained heavy metal salts or nitrosamines that can leach into the environment once the balloon degrades.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Like the sound a heavy metal object, say a refrigerator, might make if it were slowly being pushed across ceramic tile.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
