heedful

American  

[heed-fuhl] / ˈhid fəl /

adjective

1. taking heed; attentive; mindful; thoughtful; careful.

   She was always heedful of others' needs.

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Other Word Forms

• heedfully adverb
• heedfulness noun
• unheedful adjective
• unheedfully adverb
• unheedfulness noun

Etymology

Origin of heedful

First recorded in 1540–50; heed + -ful

Explanation

Being heedful means paying careful attention to something (or someone). You'll want to be especially heedful of your best friend's feelings if he's having a bad week. If you're heedful, you're mindful or attentive. You should be heedful of drinking plenty of water when you work outside on a hot summer day, and heedful of the crumbling stone steps if you're exploring the ruins of an old building. It's also important to be heedful of the way other people feel. This adjective comes from heed, "careful attention," and its Old English root hedan, "observe or protect."

Example Sentences

Kai, appearing both accustomed to the attention and heedful of it, tended to end each exchange with a playful laugh and the same message: “Have fun, OK?”

From New York Times • Jan. 3, 2021

McMillan initially promised to train fissile material handlers to be more heedful of plutonium-handling perils, for example, and to bring the inventory and safety documents guiding their work up to date.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 30, 2017

Her 16th birthday is the occasion for an Edwardian tennis match – lots of chaps swanning about in white flannels and boaters – through which she skitters barefoot, heedful only of her secret romance.

From The Guardian • Dec. 16, 2012

And the military, despite its intermittently heavy-handed responses, is heedful of public sentiment to a degree unprecedented under the old regime.

From Time • Jun. 2, 2011

The turf on that hillock was new; Dear Little Ones, did ye know aught of the Dead, Or could he be heedful of you?

From A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker by Locker-Lampson, Hannah Jane