noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of headrest
Explanation
A headrest is the padded cushion attached to your car seat just behind your head. The headrest protects your head and neck from being jerked backward during an accident. Your head is supported and protected by a car's headrest — you're less likely to sustain the neck injury known as whiplash with a well-designed headrest. Headrests or head restraints have been required in cars since the late 1960's, when they became a mandatory safety feature in new automobiles. While the driver rarely actually rests her head, her front seat passenger might tip his seat back on a long trip to get full use of his headrest.
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:
Evidence gathered from the headrest of a seat in her car using adhesive tape was sent to the US for DNA testing, but no profile could be found.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Holding it down causes waterspouts to spin up all around you, dancing on their tails, merging and splitting—the immersiveness comes courtesy of a speaker in the driver’s headrest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
One of the nicest touches has the gamers getting in an actual car and banging against the headrest as they accelerate — something that doesn't happen at a computer monitor.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2023
“It’s just when I had my head in the headrest and there’s that movement, that bothers me.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023
He leaned against the headrest and closed his eyes.
From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon
The new robotaxi features a lighter interior color palette, added padding, and ergonomic curves in the seats and headrests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Seats in that area showed signs of damage, including sheared oxygen masks, lost headrests and torquing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2024
They found a shovel, gloves and goggles in Kohberger’s 2015 white Hyundai Elantra and took parts of the car, including the headrests, seat belt, brake and gas pedals.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 2, 2023
They had unintentional uses as well, doubling as headrests at nap time and shields in a snowball fight.
From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2022
The seats barely reclined, no headrests, cheap fake-leather upholstery.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
