Showing results for "heard"

• past participle of hear.
• past tense form of hear.

heard

American  

[hurd] / hɜrd /

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of hear.

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adjective

1. perceived by the ear or learned by hearing.

   Linguists have many theories about how we comprehend heard utterances, but less to say about language production.

   Review your notes and add any comments while the heard information is fresh in your memory.

Other Word Forms

• half-heard
  adjective
• well-heard
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of heard

First recorded before 900 heard for def. 1, in 1480–90 heard for def. 2; hear ( def. ) + -(e)d ¹ ( def. ) for verb sense; hear ( def. ) + -(e)d ² ( def. ) for adjective sense

Explanation

If your dog trembled and shook at the sound of fireworks, he might have thought he heard gunshots. Heard means "perceived by the sense of hearing." If you detected a sound using your ears, you heard it. Heard is the past tense of the verb hear, and it's also an adjective when you use it to describe a particular sound, as when you say, "The music was even lovelier since it was mysteriously heard from afar." A word you might confuse with heard is herd, which means "group of animals."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heard

A local resident, who did not wish to be named, said she heard sirens overnight and saw the aftermath of the incident being live-streamed on social media.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

The next time we are both in the office, should I pull her aside and say something like, “I heard you’re frustrated. Can you explain why?”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

Another resident in the west of Niamey said he heard sporadic small arms fire at about 5:00 am.

From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026

None of this is specific forward guidance, yet it’s a firmer message on inflation than markets have heard from the central bank in some time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Santana saw Abigail and heard the barking of the dogs getting close.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold