hew
verb (used with object)
to strike forcibly with an ax, sword, or other cutting instrument; chop; hack.
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hew
1 American
[hyoo, yoo]
/ hju, ju /
verb (used with object)
-
hews,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hewed,
past participle, past
-
hewn,
past participle
-
hewing
present participle
-
to strike forcibly with an ax, sword, or other cutting instrument; chop; hack.
-
to make, shape, smooth, etc., with cutting blows.
to hew a passage through the crowd; to hew a statue from marble.
- Synonyms:
- form
-
to sever (a part) from a whole by means of cutting blows (usually followed by away, off, out, from, etc.).
to hew branches from the tree.
-
to cut down; fell.
to hew wood; trees hewed down by the storm.
verb (used without object)
-
hews,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hewed,
past participle, past
-
hewn,
past participle
-
hewing
present participle
-
to strike with cutting blows; cut.
He hewed more vigorously each time.
-
to uphold, follow closely, or conform (usually followed byto ).
to hew to the tenets of one's political party.
HEW
2
American
abbreviation
hew
1
British
/ hjuː /
verb
-
to strike (something, esp wood) with cutting blows, as with an axe
-
to shape or carve from a substance
-
(tr; often foll by away, down, from, off, etc) to sever from a larger or another portion
-
to conform (to a code, principle, etc)
HEW
2
British
abbreviation
Synonym Usage
See cut.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hewsimple
-
hewssimple
-
have hewedperfect
-
have hewnperfect
-
has hewedperfect
-
has hewnperfect
-
am hewingprogressive
-
are hewingprogressive
-
is hewingprogressive
-
have been hewingperfect progressive
-
has been hewingperfect progressive
Past
-
hewedsimple
-
had hewedperfect
-
had hewnperfect
-
was hewingprogressive
-
were hewingprogressive
-
had been hewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hew
First recorded before 900; Middle English hewen, Old English hēawan; cognate with German hauen, Old Norse hǫggva; akin to haggle
Explanation
If you're a lumberjack, the word hew is nothing new. You hew things every day with one swift swing of the axe, chopping and shaping wood. It's said that Paul Bunyan hewed the Grand Canyon by dragging his giant mythical axe behind him. But usually things are hewn with a little more purpose — with each chop and cut designed to shape, sculpt, or craft a final product. Take the axe out of the picture though, and this word takes on a different meaning. If you're trying to adhere to rules, stick to a budget, or conform to a certain tradition, you can use hew, too.
Vocabulary lists containing hew
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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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.
See Examples For:
Microdramas hew to an established formula, with each installment ending on a cliffhanger that pushes its often preposterous story line toward a final, usually shocking reveal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
The deals appear to closely hew to the same lines as the earlier deals with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which were seen as significant wins for the industry.
From Barron's ● Dec. 19, 2025
With changes to tax law, the Dec. 31 deadline has become almost arbitrary, yet people still hew to old habits.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 19, 2025
The intention of the proposed measure is to hew as closely to the county regulations as possible, including provisions that provide flexibility to small landlords, Blumenfield said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025
Instead, it looks like a human trying to hew a life and a belief out of nothing but dead wood—which is, in its own way, heroic.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
Carter wound up passing the buck on Section 504 to his new HEW head, Joseph Califano, formed a task force on the issue — that included no people with disabilities.
From Salon ● May 1, 2022
From 1965 to 1968, he was a top assistant to HEW Secretary John Gardner.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 2, 2022
But, while programs like Medicare did become integral parts of American society, HEW did have too much on its plate: about a decade later, it was split into two separate agencies.
From Time ● Jan. 17, 2017
HEW Secretary John Gardner, recognizing the enormity of the task, decided to call in as much staff as necessary to enforce the law, Smith says.
From US News ● Jul. 29, 2015
Numerous researchers had appealed to HEW, asking that collection of blood and tissues be exempt from the new law.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Taking his cue from Richard Hofstadter, an influential 20th-century American historian and Roosevelt revisionist, Mr. Brown hews largely to contrary opinions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
It isn’t yet clear how close that opinion hews to Selig’s own.
From Barron's ● Nov. 19, 2025
A writers’ room rule to which Kripke hews closely is that what’s bad for the world is good for the show.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2024
The first act, especially, hews much too closely to biographical exposition.
From New York Times ● Nov. 29, 2024
They have a sharp instrument with which they continually chop, chop, or strike; and this hews off the rough places, making the whole smooth.
From Bertie's Home or, the Way to be Happy by Madeline Leslie
Other results hewed closer to recent polling of the race.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026
A less-frequent Gallup survey specifically about whether the stock market will rise in the next six months hewed to the same pattern.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
Selfies were becoming more prevalent as social media grew, and standards of beauty hewed close to celebrity Kim Kardashian’s looks, especially in regards to eye makeup and products used for face contouring.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 7, 2026
Faithfully adapted into an excellent Hulu limited series, the panoramic tale hewed closely to the details of Hunter’s own improbable family history, highlighting instances of fortitude, resourcefulness and luck.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2025
The place was filthy and the old pines hewed down and those left standing were dying, and the pools in the courts were choked with refuse.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
Video released by the US Justice Department shows apparently well-made concrete steps leading into the tunnel, which appears to be hewn from rock and with a concrete floor.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
But when he got it right, his lyrics had an aphoristic directness that made them seem more hewn than written.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
Its throwing arm, currently at 12 o’clock, weighs 360 pounds and is not hewn or sanded; knots are visible in the wood.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
“What the Acropolis was to Ancient Greece during her Golden Age, the new Civic Center now being hewn from the shabby slopes of Bunker Hill will be to Los Angeles,” The Times wrote in 1957.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2024
Ser Gregor Clegane's face might have been hewn from rock.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Nonetheless, it saw long-term trends hewing toward streaming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Some vessels have exited the strait after making a brief diversion through a channel between two islands off Iran’s coast, Larak and Qeshm, and hewing close to Iran’s coast.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 17, 2026
But being a politician occasionally requires actual leadership, which means working to persuade voters of the merits of a position, rather than reflexively hewing to public opinion at any given moment.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
I’m sure someone’s meemaw is hewing now about how Saban deserves the ax.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
There are some sour and knotty pieces, that require more hewing and polishing than others.
From Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire with biographical notices of their pastors, and some account of the puritan ministers who laboured in the county. by Thomas Coleman
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.
