hair
Americannoun
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hairs
plural
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any of the numerous fine, usually cylindrical, keratinous filaments growing from the skin of humans and animals; a pilus.
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an aggregate of such filaments, as that covering the human head or forming the coat of most mammals.
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a similar fine, filamentous outgrowth from the body of insects, spiders, etc.
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Botany. a filamentous outgrowth of the epidermis.
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cloth made of hair from animals, as camel and alpaca.
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a very small amount, degree, measure, magnitude, etc.; a fraction, as of time or space.
He lost the race by a hair.
idioms
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tear one's hair, to manifest extreme anxiety, grief, or anger: Also tear one's hair out.
He's tearing his hair over the way he was treated by them.
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split hairs, to make unnecessarily fine or petty distinctions.
To argue about whether they arrived at two o'clock or at 2:01 is just splitting hairs.
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make one's hair stand on end, to strike or fill with horror; terrify.
The tales of the jungle made our hair stand on end.
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without turning a hair, without showing the least excitement or emotion. Also not turn a hair.
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to a hair, perfect to the smallest detail; exactly.
The reproduction matched the original to a hair.
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hair of the dog, a drink of liquor, supposed to relieve a hangover: Also hair of the dog that bit one.
Even a hair of the dog didn't help his aching head.
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let one's hair down,
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to relax; behave informally.
He finally let his hair down and actually cracked a joke.
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to speak candidly or frankly; remove or reduce restraints.
He let his hair down and told them about his anxieties.
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get in someone's hair, to annoy or bother someone.
Their snobbishness gets in my hair.
noun
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any of the threadlike pigmented structures that grow from follicles beneath the skin of mammals and consist of layers of dead keratinized cells
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a growth of such structures, as on the human head or animal body, which helps prevent heat loss from the body
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botany any threadlike outgrowth from the epidermis, such as a root hair
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a fabric or material made from the hair of some animals
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( as modifier )
a hair carpet
a hair shirt
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another word for hair's-breadth
to lose by a hair
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informal to annoy someone persistently
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an alcoholic drink taken as an antidote to a hangover
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informal keep calm
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to behave without reserve
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to show no surprise, anger, fear, etc
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to make petty and unnecessary distinctions
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One of the fine strands that grow from the skin of mammals, usually providing insulation against the cold. Modified hairs sometimes serve as protective defenses, as in the quills of a porcupine or hedgehog, or as tactile organs, as in the whiskers (called vibrissae) of many nocturnal mammals. Hair filaments are a modification of the epidermis of the skin and are composed primarily of keratin. Hair also contains melanin, which determines hair color.
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A slender growth resembling a mammalian hair, found on insects and other animals.
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A fine, threadlike growth from the epidermis of plants.
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See more at trichome
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hair
First recorded before 900; Middle English heer, Old English hǣr (cognate with Dutch, German haar, Old Norse hār ), with vowel perhaps from Middle English haire “hair shirt,” from Old French, from Old High German hāria (cognate with Middle English here, Old English hǣre, Old Norse hǣra )
Explanation
Hair is the strands of fiber that grow from a person's skin, especially on the scalp. Most mammals, from dogs to bears to mice, also have hair. Your hair might be straight or curly, brown or gray or dark red. Even people with no hair on their heads have body hair, short, fine hairs that grow on arms and legs. Cats have coats that vary too, ranging from hairless to long, silky hair. Even some plants can be described as having hair. Colloquially, people "split hairs," or argue about unimportant things, or tell a "hair-raising" tale, or a spooky story that gives you chills.
Vocabulary lists containing hair
Spelling Practice, Unit 8
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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:
“I hope they see themselves out there. I hope you can find a girl that looks like you, whether she has long hair or short hair,” Leslie said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Four smaller masses were located inside the carousel on a disk suspended from a copper-beryllium ribbon about as thick as a human hair.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
"I dyed my hair and skin and reduced my clothing to tatters. I carried my stuff in sacks."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Under the ground and below the ocean’s surface lie millions of miles of glass strands thinner than a human hair.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
He shakes his dark hair out of his eyes as he walks straight toward you.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"There's been hundreds of studies done on dog hairs and cat hairs and general domestic animals, and I thought, well, let's make a wider impact than on the wider wildlife crime investigations," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
His PhD research involves analysing Boris's fur to compare how its characteristics could improve identification of animal hairs during investigations.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The new Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh, has said he isn’t interested in splitting hairs, adding that he prefers to focus on how the inflation rate looks “to the left of the decimal point.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
These hairs resemble the fine, short, light colored vellus hairs that cover much of the human body, commonly known as peach fuzz.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
The un-subtle threat made the hairs on the back of my neck rise straight up.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
