hothead
Americannoun
-
hotheads
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hothead
Explanation
A hothead is someone who's suddenly and easily angered or agitated. It's usually a hothead who starts a riot or turns a peaceful protest violent. A friend who seems calm one minute and furious the next is a hothead — and if you've ever witnessed a "road rage" incident involving an unreasonably angry driver, you know how unpredictable a hothead can be. This useful noun has been around since the 17th century, influenced by the Old English equivalent, hatheort or "hot heart," and Elizabethan English's hot-brain.
Vocabulary lists containing hothead
My Brother Sam is Dead
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On the Come Up
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"Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates"
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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:
Yet the "hothead" in the headlines is now a head coach described as "Mr Calm".
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2025
A young hothead named Matteo was sick of playing nice.
From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2024
But McDaniels’ ascent from a hothead at UW to a headache for NBA opponents couldn’t have been easy to predict.
From Seattle Times ● May 18, 2024
This demeanor is unlike the passionate, hothead ready to tell Sokka or any man off in the original.
From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2024
Nothing radical, no hothead stuff, just ringing a few doorbells for Gene McCarthy, composing a few tedious, uninspired editorials for the campus newspaper.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
It is designed to weed out the insecure and trigger-happy, the reckless hotheads with something to prove.
From Slate ● Apr. 13, 2026
"There are many of us on both sides trying to calm down all those hotheads from both camps who enjoy spreading irresponsible claims, lots of 'fake news' and plenty of insults," Daouda said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
“Should hotheads in the navy act in the belief they will automatically receive support from the other services, they could find themselves isolated,” the CIA briefer told Nixon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
In 1955, drugmaker McNeil gained FDA approval and launched Tylenol Elixir for Children, advertising it "for little hotheads."
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2023
"If they do not come back, these hotheads, how are we to survive? What will happen if the Zebak invade once more? Or if some other dreadful danger threatens?"
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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.
