on the heels of

Idioms

Also, hard on the heels of. Directly behind, immediately following, as in Mom's birthday comes on the heels of Mother's Day, or Hard on the heels of the flood there was a tornado. The hard in the variant acts as an intensifier, giving it the sense of “close on the heels of”. [Early 1800s] Also see at one's heels.

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.

Paul Volcker launched a campaign of rate hikes that led to a recession, and the Alan Greenspan era came on the heels of the Black Monday crash of 1987.

From MarketWatch • May 14, 2026

“This is a city where our residents were criminalized because of ICE, our downtown suffered because of construction, and all this on the heels of a pandemic,” he told me.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

Palantir earnings beat expectations on the heels of explosive demand in the company’s core U.S. market.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026

Chevron and Exxon Mobil were barely budging on the heels of first-quarter earnings, falling 0.3% and rising 0.6%, respectively.

From Barron's • May 1, 2026

Fortunately, the thought that came on the heels of that one saved me: Oh, snap!

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023