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HEAVY
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Irregular inflected forms: heavier , heaviest
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A serious (or tragic) role in a play
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("heavy" is a kind of...):
character; part; persona; role; theatrical role (an actor's portrayal of someone in a play)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An actor who plays villainous roles
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("heavy" is a kind of...):
actor; histrion; player; role player; thespian (a theatrical performer)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In an advanced stage of pregnancy
Example:
was great with child
Synonyms:
big; enceinte; expectant; gravid; great; heavy; large; with child
Classified under:
Similar:
pregnant (carrying developing offspring within the body or being about to produce new life)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Example:
a heavy sky
Synonyms:
heavy; lowering; sullen; threatening
Classified under:
Similar:
cloudy (full of or covered with clouds)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(used of soil) compact and fine-grained
Example:
the clayey soil was heavy and easily saturated
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
compact (closely and firmly united or packed together)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Example:
deep wakeless sleep
Synonyms:
heavy; profound; sound; wakeless
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
deep (relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Lacking lightness or liveliness
Example:
a leaden conversation
Synonyms:
heavy; leaden
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
dull (lacking in liveliness or animation)
Derivation:
heaviness (an oppressive quality that is laborious and solemn and lacks grace or fluency)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort
Example:
set a punishing pace
Synonyms:
arduous; backbreaking; grueling; gruelling; hard; heavy; laborious; operose; punishing; toilsome
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
effortful (requiring great physical effort)
Derivation:
heaviness (unwelcome burdensome difficulty)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Example:
the subject made for labored reading
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
effortful (requiring great physical effort)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Usually describes a large person who is fat but has a large frame to carry it
Synonyms:
fleshy; heavy; overweight
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
fat (having an (over)abundance of flesh)
Derivation:
heaviness (the property of being comparatively great in weight)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Example:
vines weighed down with grapes
Synonyms:
heavy; weighed down
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
full (containing as much or as many as is possible or normal)
Derivation:
heaviness (the property of being comparatively great in weight)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Example:
a heavy grade
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
steep (having a sharp inclination)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Dense or inadequately leavened and hence likely to cause distress in the alimentary canal
Example:
a heavy pudding
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
indigestible (digested with difficulty)
Sense 12
Meaning:
Of comparatively great physical weight or density
Example:
heavy mahogany furniture
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
ponderous (having great mass and weight and unwieldiness)
non-buoyant (tending to sink in a liquid or fall in air)
massive (consisting of great mass; containing a great quantity of matter)
hefty (of considerable weight and size)
heavier-than-air (relating to an aircraft heavier than the air it displaces)
doughy; soggy (having the consistency of dough because of insufficient leavening or improper cooking)
dense (having high relative density or specific gravity)
Attribute:
weight (the vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity)
Antonym:
light (of comparatively little physical weight or density)
Derivation:
heaviness (the property of being comparatively great in weight)
Sense 13
Meaning:
Large and powerful; especially designed for heavy loads or rough work
Example:
heavy machinery
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
heavy-duty (designed for heavy work)
Sense 14
Meaning:
Marked by great psychological weight; weighted down especially with sadness or troubles or weariness
Example:
heavy eyelids
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
burdensome; onerous; taxing (not easily borne; wearing)
distressful; distressing; disturbing; perturbing; troubling; worrisome; worrying (causing distress or worry or anxiety)
leaden; weighted (made heavy or weighted down with weariness)
oppressive (weighing heavily on the senses or spirit)
weighty (weighing heavily on the spirit; causing anxiety or worry)
Antonym:
light (psychologically light; especially free from sadness or troubles)
Derivation:
heaviness (persisting sadness)
Sense 15
Meaning:
Unusually great in degree or quantity or number
Example:
heavy traffic
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
harsh (severe)
Antonym:
light (not great in degree or quantity or number)
Derivation:
heaviness (unwelcome burdensome difficulty)
Sense 16
Meaning:
(physics, chemistry) being or containing an isotope with greater than average atomic mass or weight
Example:
heavy water
Classified under:
Adjectives
Domain category:
chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)
Antonym:
light ((physics, chemistry) not having atomic weight greater than average)
Derivation:
heaviness (the property of being comparatively great in weight)
Sense 17
Meaning:
Of great intensity or power or force
Example:
heavy seas
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
big (marked by intense physical force)
Antonym:
light (of little intensity or power or force)
Sense 18
Meaning:
Slow and laborious because of weight
Example:
a ponderous yawn
Synonyms:
heavy; lumbering; ponderous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
heavy-footed ((of movement) lacking ease or lightness)
Sense 19
Meaning:
Of the military or industry; using (or being) the heaviest and most powerful armaments or weapons or equipment
Example:
heavy industry involves large-scale production of basic products (such as steel) used by other industries
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
light (of the military or industry; using (or being) relatively small or light arms or equipment)
Sense 20
Meaning:
Of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought
Example:
the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference
Synonyms:
grave; grievous; heavy; weighty
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
important; of import (of great significance or value)
Sense 21
Meaning:
Given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors
Example:
a hard drinker
Synonyms:
hard; heavy; intemperate
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
indulgent (characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone)
Sense 22
Meaning:
Example:
a herald chosen for his sonorous voice
Synonyms:
heavy; sonorous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
full ((of sound) having marked deepness and body)
Sense 23
Meaning:
Example:
heavy investor
Synonyms:
big; heavy
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intemperate (excessive in behavior)
Sense 24
Meaning:
Made of fabric having considerable thickness
Example:
a heavy coat
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
thick (not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions)
Sense 25
Meaning:
Of relatively large extent and density
Example:
a heavy line
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
thick (not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions)
Derivation:
heaviness (used of a line or mark)
Sense 26
Meaning:
Permitting little if any light to pass through because of denseness of matter
Example:
impenetrable gloom
Synonyms:
dense; heavy; impenetrable
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
thick (relatively dense in consistency)
Sense 27
Meaning:
(of an actor or role) being or playing the villain
Example:
Iago is the heavy role in 'Othello'
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
wicked (morally bad in principle or practice)
III. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Slowly as if burdened by much weight
Example:
time hung heavy on their hands
Synonyms:
heavily; heavy
Classified under:
Context examples:
But there's a heavy preference for landing in the northern hemisphere, which is generally lower in elevation and provides more atmosphere to slow a landing spacecraft.
(NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars, NASA)
Because of Mars' relatively low gravity, the planet wasn't able to hold onto the very light hydrogen atoms, but the heavier oxygen atoms remained behind.
(NASA Rover Findings Point to a More Earth-like Martian Past, NASA)
Scientists compare the amount of heavy to regular water in comets.
(Comet Provides New Clues to Origins of Earth's Oceans, NASA)
Regular heavy alcohol intake increases the risk of several types of cancer.
(Alcohol dependence, NCI Dictionary)
This breed is strong and muscular with a flat, heavy head and strong, short muzzle.
(Akita, NCI Thesaurus)
It tends to be a heavier than the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.
(Cardigan Welsh Corgi, NCI Thesaurus)
Feel, said he, how heavy it is, and yet it is only eight weeks old.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Jo read it thankfully, but the heavy weight did not seem lifted off her heart, and her face was so full of misery that Laurie asked quickly, "What is it? Is Beth worse?"
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The heavy chain of the immunoglobulin, IgA, is defective.
(Multiple Myeloma-IgA, NCI Thesaurus)
The heavy chain of the immunoglobulin, IgE, is defective.
(Multiple Myeloma-IgE, NCI Thesaurus)