Heinous

Definition: Heinous

Heinous

Adjective

1. Shockingly brutal or cruel; "murder is an atrocious crime"; "a grievous offense against morality"; "a grievous crime"; "no excess was too monstrous for them to commit".

Date "heinous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Synonyms: Heinous

Synonyms: atrocious (adj), flagitious (adj), grievous (adj), monstrous (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Vice	Base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous; flagrant, flagitious; atrocious, incarnate, accursed.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Heinous

English words defined with "heinous": Criminous ♦ Piacle ♦ To set out. (references)

Specialty definitions using "heinous": Gilderoy's Kite. (references)

Etymologies containing "heinous": Bugger. (references)

Domain

Usage

Screenplays

She's heinous. (There's Something About Mary; writing credit: Ed Decter; John J. Strauss)

Heinous bitch is the term used most often. (10 Things I Hate About You; writing credit: Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith. Based on the play 'The Taming of the Shrew' by William Shakespeare.)

Release me fast or you will have to answer for this heinous act. (The Nightmare Before Christmas; writing credit: Tim Burton; Michael McDowell)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Murder and Mayhem: More Than 75 Case Histories of Heinous Crimes (reference) Onania, or the Heinous Sin of Self Pollution and All Its Frightful Consequences in Both Sexes Considered (reference) Sinister faces of the crime and criminals : true stories of heinous crime (reference) The Heinous Truth! about Utah! (reference) Vicious Lies An' Heinous Slander (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	'Sandra O'Connor, how plead you to the heinous charge of secular womanism?' / Oliphant.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Play	Caption
	Abominable; amoral; atrocious; base; contemptible; corrupt; debased; degenerate; depraved; devilish; dissolute; egregious; evil; fiendish; flagitious; foul; gross; guilty; heartless; heinous; immoral; impious; impish; incorrigible; indecent; iniquitous; i.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
King Richard III	Shakespeare, William	If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds, Behold this pattern of thy butcheries.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Children	Ghana	A virgin girl, sometimes under the age of 10, but often in her teens, is given by her family to work and be trained in traditional religion at a fetish shrine for a period lasting between several weeks and 3 years as a means of atonement for an allegedly heinous crime committed by a member of the girl's family. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Heinous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.63% of the time. "Heinous" is used about 73 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	98.63%	72	39,377
Noun (proper)	1.37%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	73	N/A

Expressions using "heinous": heinous crime ♦ heinous deed. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "heinous": non-heinous, non-non-heinous.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "heinous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		rrëqethës (bloodcurdling, hair raising, hairy), i urryer (confounded, cursed, foul, hateful, horrible, invidious, loathful, loathsome), i neveritshëm (abhorrent, abominable, accursed, accurst, beastly, contemptible, damnable, damned, despicable, detestable, disgustful, disgusting, execrable, fulsome, ghoulish, hideous, loathful, loathsome, nauseating, noisome, obnoxious, odious, putrid, rank, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rotten, sickening, sickly, slimy, sordid, squalid, unclean, unsavory, unsavoury). (various references)

Arabic		‏شنيع (atrocious, awful, crying, enormous, foul, ghastly, ghoulish, gruesome, hideous, monstrous, nefarious, obnoxious, outrageous, ugly), ‏شائن (abominate, black, disgraceful, disgusting, dishonorable, dishonourable, hideous, ignominious, infamous, inglorious, nefarious, outrageous). (various references)

Bulgarian		гнусен (abhorrent, loathsome, obscene, ugly, vile), отвратителен (abhorrent, abominable, accursed, accurst, atrocious, awful, beastly, bestial, carrion, creepy, cursed, damnable, detestable, disgustful, disgusting, distasteful, execrable, foul, fulsome, gruesome, hateful, hideous, horrible, ill-favored, ill-favoured, infamous, loathsome, lousy, miserable, morbid, nasty, nauseous, noisome, odious, offensive, punk, putrid, rank, repellent, revolting, rotten, septic, shocking, sickening, ugly, unholy, unsavory, unsavoury, unspeakable, villainous, wicked). (various references)

Chinese		可恨. (various references)

Czech		hanebný (deplorable, discreditable, disgraceful, dishonorable, dishonourable, horrendous, ignoble, ignominious, nasty, nefarious, scurvy, shameful, sordid, squalid, unspeakable, vile, villainous), ohavný (abominable, despicable, detestable, execrable, ghastly, hideous, horrendous, horrid, odious, ugly, unspeakable, vile, villainous). (various references)

Farsi		فجیح , تاثراور (Pathetic), زشت (Awkward, Awry, Backhand, Bad, Bawdy, Black, Execrable, Gash, Gross, Hank, Hideous, Homely, Horrid, Invidious, Maladroit, Nefarious, Offensive, Ugly, Uncouth, Unfavorable, Ungainly, Ungraceful, Unhandsome), ظالم (Cruel, Despot, Grim, Incubus, Remorseless, Ruthless, Unsparing, Wroth), شنیع (Bawdy, Foul, Hideous, Nefarious), شریر (Bad, Infernal, Naughty, Nefarious, Vicious, Villain, Villainous, Viper, Wicked). (various references)

Finnish		hirveä (awful, dreadful, terrible). (various references)

French		odieux, atroce (hellish). (various references)

German		ruchlos (dastardly, infamous, nefarious), abscheulich (abhorrent, abominable, abominably, atrocious, awful, bloody, damnable, damnably, detestable, detestably, execrable, execrably, execrative, flagrant, flagrantly, hateful, heinously, hideous, horrendous, horrendously, horrible, horribly, loathsome, mean, monstrous, nasty, obnoxious, odious, outrageous, outrageously, putrid, repulsive, revolting, terrible, terribly, vile). (various references)

Greek		στυγερόσ (atrocious, flagrant), μυσαρόσ (atrocious), αποτρόπαιοσ (abominable, execrable, outrageous). (various references)

Hebrew		מתועב (abhorrent, abominable, atrocious, execrable, ghoulish, hideous, infamous, repulsive, vile). (various references)

Hungarian		kegyetlen (atrocious, bloody, brutal, brutish, cruel, dispiteous, felon, ferocious, grim, hard, inhuman, insensate, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, sanguinary, savage, scathing, tigerish, tyrannical). (various references)

Italian		odioso (accursed, cursed, detestable, hated, hateful, hideous, horrid, invidious, obnoxious, odious, unpleasant), atroce (appalling, atrocious, dire, dreadful, excruciating, flagitious, grievous, murderous, outrageous, savage, terrible). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		極悪 , 悪虐無�" (treacherous). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		�"くあく, あくぎゃくむどう (atrocity, treacherous, treachery, treason). (various references)

Korean		극악한 (Felonious). (various references)

Pig Latin		einoushay

Portuguese		horrendo (dire, dismal, dreary, gruesome, hairsplitting, horrible, nasty), hediondo (flagitious, hideous), subir (accrue, advance, ascend, aspire, climb, come up, go without, improve quality, increase, Mount, puff, rise, scale, scramble, steepen, up, uprise), atroz (atrocious, grievous, merciless, racking), abominável (abhorrent, abominable, accursed, alien, atrocious, awful, dismal, dreary, foul, gruesome, hateful, hideous, horrible, infamous character, nasty, negate, odious). (various references)

Romanian		câinos (cruel, hard-hearted, wicked), atroce (atrocious, atrociously, heinously, monstrous, outrageous). (various references)

Russian		отвратительный (abhorrent, abominable, crummy, cursed, damned, detestable, disgustful, disgusting, evolving, execrable, filthy, foul, fulsome, ghoulish, gruesome, hateful, hideous, loathsome, morbid, nameless, nasty, nauseous, obnoxious, poisonous, rank, repugnant, revolting, sickening, stinking, unsavory, unsavoury, vile). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		mrzak (abhorrent, detestable, hateful, loath, loathful, loth, obnoxious, odious), gnusan (abominable, damnable, detestable, hideous, loathful, loathsome, nasty, noisome, sickening). (various references)

Spanish		nefando (nameless), enorme (cyclopean, egregious, enormous, great, gross, huge, immense, jumbo, killing, king size, marvellous, marvelous, massive, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, outsize, prodigious, swingeing, thundering, tremendous, vast, walloping, whacking), atroz (atrocious, awful, black-hearted, crying, desperate, direful, lethal, outrageous, racking, raging, vicious). (various references)

Swedish		skändlig (flagitious, infamous, nefarious, sacrilegious). (various references)

Thai		เลวร้าย (direful). (various references)

Turkish		iğrenç (abhorrent, abominable, accursed, accurst, cloying, crying, damn, damned, detestable, dirty, disgusting, distasteful, dread, dreadfull, execrable, filthy, foul, frightful, ghoulish, god-awful, grievous, hatable, hateable, hateful, hideous, horrible, horrid, infernal, loathsome, lousy, mangy, mawkish, nasty, nauseous, noisome, obnoxious, odious, offensive, putrid, rancid, rank, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, scummy, shocking, sick, sickening, sickly, slimy, squirmy, stinking, ugly, vile, villainous, yuck), çirkin (beastly, eldritch, flagrant, foul, god-awful, hideous, homely, horrid, ill-favored, ill-favoured, inelegant, misshapen, nasty, nefarious, obnoxious, plain, seamy, shapeless, ugly, unattractive, uncomely, uncouth, unhandsome, unlovely, unpleasant, unsightly). (various references)

Ukranian		огидний (abhorrent, abject, abominable, accursed, accurst, antipathetic, antipathetical, atrocious, beastly, bilious, brackish, brutal, carrion, damnable, damned, detestable, disgusting, dreadful, evil, execrable, filthy, ghoulish, grim, hanging, hideous, horrible, horrid, ill-favored, ill-favoured, loathful, loathsome, mawkish, mucky, nasty, nauseating, nauseous, nefandous, noisome, obnoxious, obscene, odious, offensive, pesky, poisonous, putrid, rank, repellent, repulsive, revolting, shocking, snotty, sordid, sour, stinking, underfoot, wicked), мерзенний (abhorrent, abject, abominable, atrocious, caitiff, ghoulish, hangdog, hateful, nasty, nefandous, nefarious, niddering, odious, sordid, villainous, wretched). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	scelerate, sceleratiora, sceleratis, sceleratius. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	Job Chapter 31, Verse 11
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	QumoV gar orghV akatascetoV to mianai androV gunaika
Latin	405	Vulgate	Hoc enim nefas est et iniquitas maxima
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	This forsothe is vnleeful, and most wickidnesse.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	For this is a hainous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	For that would be a crime; it would be an act for which punishment would be measured out by the judges:
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	Job Chapter 31, Verse 11
Albanian	Sepse kjo do të ishte një mbrapshti, një faj që duhet të dënohet nga gjyqtarët,
Bulgarian	Защото това би било гнусно дело, И беззаконие, което да се накаже от съдиите;
Cebuano	Kay kana usa ka sala nga makalilisang; Oo, usa ka paglapas nga angayng pagasilotan sa mga maghuhukom:
Chinese	� 為這是大罪、是審判官當罰的罪孽。
Croatian	Djelo bestidno time bih poèinio, zloèin kojem pravda treba da presudi,
Danish	Thi sligt var Skændselsdåd, Brøde, der drages for Retten,
Dutch	Want dat is een schandelijke daad, en het is een misdaad bij de rechters.
Finnish	sillä se olisi ollut ilkityö ja raskaasti rangaistava rikos,
French	Car c`est un crime, Un forfait que punissent les juges;
German	denn das ist ein Frevel und eine Missetat für die Richter.
Haitian Creole	Se yon gwo bagay sal mwen ta fè la a. Se bagay pou yo ta touye m'.
Hungarian	Mert gyalázatosság volna ez, és birák elé tartozó bûn.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Jika dosa yang keji itu memang kulakukan, aku patut menerima hukuman.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Karena ia itu perbuatan yang sangat jahat, suatu salah yang patut dihukum oleh hakim.
Italian	difatti quello è uno scandalo, un delitto da deferire ai giudici,
Korean	이 �" 중 죄 라 재 판 장 에 게 벌 받 을 악 이 �"
Maori	He kino rawa hoki tera; ae ra, he he e tika ana kia whiua e nga kaiwhakawa:
Modern Greek	�"ιοτι μιαρον ανομημα τουτο και αμαρτημα καταδικον·
Norwegian	For slikt er en skjenselsdåd, det er en misgjerning, hjemfalt til dom;
Portuguese	Pois isso seria um crime infame; sim, isso seria uma iniqüidade para ser punida pelos juízes;
Rumanian	Cqci aceasta ar fi fost o nelegiuire, o fqrqdelege vrednicq sq fie pedepsitq de judecqtori,
Russian	� ПФПНХ ЮФП ЬФП--� ТЕУФХ� МЕОЙЕ, ЬФП--�'ЕЪЪБЛПОЙЕ, � П�"МЕЦБЭЕЕ УХ�"Х;
Spanish	Porque aquello sería una infamia y un delito digno de castigo.
Swedish	Ja, sådant hade varit en skändlighet, en straffbar missgärning hade det varit,
Thai	เพราะนั่นเป็นความผิ�"ที่ร้ายกาจ และเป็นความชั่วช้าที่ผู้พิพากษาต้องปรับโทษ
Ukrainian	Бо гидота оце, й це провина підсудна,
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "heinous": heinously, heinousness, heinousnesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Heinous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Fenioux, hainous, Hainout, heanous, heineous, heinious, heinus, heneous, henious, henous, henouse, heynous, hienous, hindoos, Phleious, Selinous, veinous. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "heinous" (pronounced hā"nus)
4	-ā" n u s	gayness, Manus, pandanus.
3	-n u s	abruptness, absoluteness, acuteness, aggressiveness, agribusiness, airworthiness, alertness, aloofness, alumnus, Anas, androgynous, anise, appropriateness, arbitrariness, assertiveness, astuteness, asynchronous, attentiveness, attractiveness, awareness, awfulness, awkwardness, backwardness, badness, bagginess, baldness, bearishness, bigness, bitterness, bituminous, blackness, blandness, bleakness, blindness, bluntness, boldness, bonus, boorishness, brashness, brightness, bullishness, business, callousness, calmness, carelessness, casualness, cautiousness, cavernous, cheapness, chitinous, cleanliness, cleanness, cleverness, closeness, cloudiness, clumsiness, cockiness, cohesiveness, coldness, Colonus, combativeness, compactness, competitiveness, completeness, consciousness, contagiousness, contentiousness, contrariness, Conus, coolness, correctness, coziness, craziness, creativeness, creditworthiness, creepiness, crispness, crookedness, cuteness, dampness, darkness, Deaconess, deadliness, deafness, decisiveness, defensiveness, destructiveness, directness, disingenuousness, distinctiveness, divisiveness, dizziness, dreariness, drowsiness, drunkenness, dryness, dullness, eagerness, earnestness, edginess, effectiveness, elusiveness, emptiness, evenness, exogenous, eyewitness, faintness, fairness, farsightedness, fastness, fickleness, firmness, fitness, flatness, fondness, foolishness, forcefulness, forgiveness, forthrightness, foulness, fractiousness, frankness, freshness, friendliness, frothiness, fullness, funniness, furnace, gauntness, gelatinous, gentleness, genuineness, genus, ghastliness, gluttonous, goodness, governess, graciousness, greatness, greenness, grimness, hairiness, handedness, happiness, hardness, harmfulness, harness, harshness, helplessness, highness, hoarseness, holiness, homelessness, homesickness, homogenous, hopefulness, hopelessness, humanness, idleness, illness, inclusiveness, indebtedness, indecisiveness, indigenous, ineffectiveness, ineptness, inertness, intravenous, intrusiveness, inventiveness, joblessness, Johannes, kindness, larcenous, largeness, lateness, lawlessness, laziness, lenis, lightfastness, lightness, likeness, liveliness, loneliness, lousiness, luminous, madness, meanness, membranous, menace, Minas, mindedness, minus, monotonous, mountainous, mutinous, narrowness, nastiness, nearsightedness, neatness, nervousness, newness, niceness, niggardliness, nitrogenous, nonbusiness, nonpoisonous, nosiness, nothingness, numbness, ominous, oneness, onus, openness, orderliness, otherness, outrageousness, outspokenness, peacefulness, penis, permissiveness, persuasiveness, pervasiveness, pettiness, playfulness, poisonous, politeness, polygynous, pompousness, possessiveness, powerlessness, preparedness, queasiness, quickness, quietness, raciness, randomness, rareness, ravenous, rawness, readiness, reasonableness, rebelliousness, recklessness, redness, remoteness, resistiveness, resourcefulness, responsiveness, restiveness, restlessness, restrictiveness, richness, righteousness, rightness, riskiness, robustness, roominess, roughness, rowdiness, rudeness, ruinous, ruthlessness, sacredness, sadness, Salinas, sameness, scantiness, secretiveness, selfishness, selflessness, sensitiveness, separateness, seriousness, shakiness, shallowness, sharpness, shortness, shortsightedness, shrewdness, shyness, sickness, silliness, sinus, skittishness, slackness, sleepiness, sloppiness, slovenliness, slowness, sluggishness, slyness, smallness, smoothness, smugness, softness, solitariness, soundness, spiritedness, squeamishness, starkness, steadfastness, steadiness, steepness, sternness, stiffness, stillness, stinginess, stoutness, strangeness, stubbornness, sturdiness, suddenness, suggestiveness, sweetness, swiftness, tardiness, tartness, tastiness, tenderness, tetanus, thickness, thinness, thoroughness, thoughtfulness, tightness, timeliness, tiredness, togetherness, toughness, trustworthiness, truthfulness, ugliness, unconsciousness, uneasiness, unfairness, unhappiness, uniqueness, unpleasantness, unwieldiness, unwillingness, usefulness, vagueness, vastness, venous, viciousness, villainous, vindictiveness, vividness, voluminous, wariness, wastefulness, waterishness, weakness, weariness, weightlessness, weirdness, wellness, wetness, whiteness, wholeness, wholesomeness, wickedness, wilderness, wildness, willingness, wimpiness, wistfulness, witness, wonderfulness, worldliness, worthiness, wryness.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-h-i-n-o-s-u"
	-2 letters: eosin, hoise, hones, hosen, house, noise, shine, shone.
	-3 letters: eons, hens, hies, hins, hisn, hoes, hone, hons, hose, hues, huns, ions, noes, nose, nosh, nous, ones, onus, shin, shoe, shun, sine, sinh, sone.
	-4 letters: ens, eon, hen, hes, hie, hin, his, hoe, hon, hue, hun, ins, ion, noh, nos, nus, oes, ohs, one, ons, ose, sei, sen, she, sin, son, sou, sue, sun, uns, use.
	-5 letters: eh, en, es, he, hi, ho, in, is, ne, no, nu, oe, oh, on, os, sh, si, so, uh, un, us.
	Words containing the letters "e-h-i-n-o-s-u"
	+1 letter: outshine.
	+2 letters: cushioned, euphonies, heinously, houseling, lichenous, nourished, nourisher, nourishes, outshined, outshines, rehousing, unholiest.
	+3 letters: beshouting, bounderish, epiphanous, eunuchoids, euphonious, euphoniums, exhaustion, gumshoeing, houselling, housetrain, ichneumons, neighbours, nourishers, touchiness, touchlines, unholiness, unpolished, unworthies.
	+4 letters: beshrouding, chirurgeons, cushionless, deinonychus, doughtiness, enshrouding, euphoriants, exhaustions, exhumations, grouchiness, heinousness, hideousness, honeyguides, housetrains, loutishness, neutrophils, nourishment, outscheming, overnourish, roguishness, scouthering, shouldering, slouchiness, springhouse, surgeonfish, unrighteous, unworthiest, voguishness, warehousing.
	+5 letters: anemophilous, chloroquines, consumership, doublethinks, droughtiness, echinococcus, euchromatins, euphoniously, ghoulishness, glutathiones, groundfishes, hallucinoses, hebetudinous, heteroauxins, housekeeping, housepainter, housesitting, housetrained, housewarming, malnourished, meetinghouse, muttonfishes, neurochemist, neuropathies, nourishments, nucleophiles, overhuntings, packinghouse, punchinellos, rhinoviruses, silhouetting, springhouses, superheroine, touchinesses, unholinesses, unworthiness, upholstering.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.