headhunt
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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headhuntsimple
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headhuntssimple
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have headhuntedperfect
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has headhuntedperfect
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am headhuntingprogressive
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are headhuntingprogressive
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is headhuntingprogressive
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have been headhuntingperfect progressive
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has been headhuntingperfect progressive
Past
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headhuntedsimple
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had headhuntedperfect
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was headhuntingprogressive
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were headhuntingprogressive
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had been headhuntingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of headhunt
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:
After extensive research, they decided to headhunt a grower called Brady Green.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2024
"Chinese recruitment schemes have tried to headhunt British and allied nationals in key positions and with sensitive knowledge and experience," the government said.
From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2023
Attempts to headhunt pilots are ongoing and had been ramping up recently, western officials say.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2022
The Paxton character’s blustering attempt to headhunt this stubbornly self-sufficient newcomer makes for one of the movie’s funniest scenes.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2014
But he says that as long as companies are free to headhunt employees from rivals and woo qualified professionals from other industries, it's difficult to say shortages exist.
From Reuters ● Apr. 10, 2013
In no way did he betray the fact that he had been marked as the victim of one of the biggest headhunts in the history of Washington politics.
From Time Magazine Archive
In addition to being the team principal who headhunted Newey, Horner was also the team boss who lost him.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025
A former accountant from Paisley nicknamed Fred the Shred, Goodwin was headhunted to RBS to help build the biggest bank in the world.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2025
An investor headhunted Ulrich and offered him $10,000 more annually than his management job at a nearby factory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
Now it is Pochettino who is out of a job, and Mourinho who was headhunted to replace him.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 21, 2019
After making his name as a programmemaker, he initially became a commissioner at a rival broadcaster before being headhunted five years ago.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 7, 2019
Those expat executives willing to relocate to the kingdom from neighboring Dubai, United Arab Emirates, can ask for 20% to 35% extra, according to headhunting firm Mark Williams.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2023
He lost the case, but the litigation produced documents that he sent to Congress and the Justice Department, including spreadsheets showing commissions attributed to Mrs. Roberts early in her headhunting career, from 2007 to 2014.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2023
The firm said on Sunday it would work with a headhunting firm to find a new CEO and did not set a timetable for the process.
From Reuters ● Aug. 12, 2022
What they actually do is hire headhunting firms.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2022
The quality of statesmanship in Wood which dealt with these problems and settled them so that from a slave-holding, polygamous, headhunting land there arose a self-governing community is of the highest order.
From The Career of Leonard Wood by Sears, Joseph Hamblen
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.
