heady
Americanadjective
-
intoxicating.
a heady wine.
-
affecting the mind or senses greatly.
heady perfume.
-
exciting; exhilarating.
the heady news of victory.
- Antonyms:
- disappointing, depressing
-
rashly impetuous.
heady conduct.
-
violent; destructive.
heady winds.
-
clever; shrewd.
a heady scheme to win the election.
adjective
-
(of alcoholic drink) intoxicating
-
strongly affecting the mind or senses; extremely exciting
-
rash; impetuous
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of heady
First recorded in 1350–1400, heady is from the Middle English word hevedy, hedy. See head, -y 1
Explanation
Something that's heady is extremely thrilling. You might have a heady feeling as you walk up on stage to get your high school diploma. Use the adjective heady to describe a sensation that is so exciting it makes you a little dizzy, a bit like being intoxicated. You could talk about the heady scent of your mom's rose garden or the heady feeling of winning the state spelling bee. The fourteenth century meaning of heady was "headstrong or impetuous," and it's sometimes still used in this way. By the 1570's, it had also come to mean "apt to go to the head," or "exhilarating."
Vocabulary lists containing heady
The Great Gatsby
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"The Wife of Bath's Tale," Vocabulary from the narrative poem
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The Bluest Eye
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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:
Big picture: The economy entered the fourth quarter with a heady dose of momentum.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
It was all heady stuff for Bakker, who often said that as a youth he had few expectations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
EA took shape as a decentralized movement during the heady, techno-optimistic days of the late 2000s and early 2010s -- when many believed social media and smartphones would promote empathy and democracy.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The Jets' draft and John Harbaugh going to the Giants should mean they could rise to the heady heights of being mediocre.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
If so, the adoption of Algonkian in the Northeast would mark an era of spiritual ferment and heady conversion, much like the time when Islam rose and spread Arabic throughout the Middle East.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Nothing like the durable consolations of late-life romance, but headier, more exciting and, in the worst cases, far more damaging.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Investors are concentrating capital in the most trusted VC firms rather than taking chances on new managers as they do when the market is headier, Clarkson said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
Perhaps the film could have leaned more into being headier, more emotional, have more going on.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2023
It’s pressure because you can’t be playing at a higher level with a headier crowd of luminaries around you.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2023
The ale of Ireland is heady, but headier far the ale of the Great Country.
From The Crest-Wave of Evolution A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 by Kenneth Morris
Fox Corp. sat out the headiest days of the streaming boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
“He’s one of the headiest baseball players I’ve ever been around,” said Roberts of Hernández.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
His passion for theater, from its grubbiest particulars to its headiest heights, is the thread that binds together a slightly miscellaneous collection.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2021
It was one of the headiest plays of the day in the Kraken’s first scrimmage, one where Donskoi’s White team defeated the Blue team 5-1.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 25, 2021
He was called one of the lightest, but headiest quarterbacks in the East.
From Jane Cable by George Barr McCutcheon
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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.
