Showing results for "heading"

• present participle of head.

heading

American  

[hed-ing] / ˈhɛd ɪŋ /

noun

headings plural

1. something that serves as a head, top, or front.

2. a title or caption of a page, chapter, etc.

3. a section of the subject of a discourse; a main division of a topic or theme.

4. the compass direction toward which a traveler or vehicle is or should be moving; course.

5. an active underground mining excavation in the earth, as a drift or raise being or about to be driven.

6. Aeronautics. the angle between the axis from front to rear of an aircraft and some reference line, as magnetic north.

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heading British  

/ ˈhɛdɪŋ /

noun

1. a title for a page, paragraph, chapter, etc

2. a main division, as of a lecture, speech, essay, etc

3. mining

   1. a horizontal tunnel

   2. the end of such a tunnel

4. the angle between the direction of an aircraft and a specified meridian, often due north

5. the compass direction parallel to the keel of a vessel

6. the act of heading

7. anything that serves as a head

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonheading
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• headings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of heading

First recorded in 1250–1300, heading is from the Middle English word hefding. See head, -ing ¹

Explanation

A heading is a word, phrase, or sentence at the beginning of a written passage that explains what it's about. A heading is very similar to a title. A heading is similar to a caption, a line below a photograph that briefly explains it. Headings show up at the top of paragraphs, chapters, or pages, and they give you an idea of what the subject is. You might write a heading for each chapter of your novel, or on each page of your French club newsletter. The 1300's meaning of heading was "beheading," and it wasn't until the late 1800's that it came to mean "title."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heading headings

Make no mistake: Spain is heading back to the World Cup final.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

But, unsurprisingly, the pair boast two of the highest overall performance ratings at this year's Wimbledon heading into Sunday's showdown.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

"If the wind and rain start picking up in a bit, I'll be heading home early."

From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026

Another factor is how the market performs in the six weeks or so heading into earnings, Hackett said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

She’s heading to campus today, so her hair is straight and she’s wearing her professor clothes: black pants and a pale blue top with small silver studs in her ears.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

The writer, thanks to their ability to improve page rankings via keywords and section headings, will have created an article that looks like information but is really a thinly disguised advertisement.

From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2026

The book ricochets back and forth in time, with such section headings as “Twelve Days Before the Robbery” and “Thirteen Years Earlier.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

Inside the vehicle, the chief said, officers also recovered three cell phones, handheld radios and documents with the headings “Homeland Security Investigations” and “U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2025

Most of these counterfeit documents, however, are easy to spot because they clearly diverge from official formatting - showing erroneous spacing and letter headings, or containing significant grammatical or spelling errors.

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2024

On one page she saw a list of headings: exchange controls, rationing, the mass evacuation of large towns, the conscription of labor.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Related Words

• route