hothead
Americannoun
noun
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.
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
Andrey Rublev: A tennis hothead desperately searching for peace.
From New York Times • Jan. 15, 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
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.
