heinous

• hainous (obsolete)

From Middle English hainous, from Old French haïneus (compare French haineux) from haïr (“to hate”), hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French enhadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”)

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈheɪnəs/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhiːnəs/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -eɪnəs

heinous (comparative more heinous, superlative most heinous)

1. Totally reprehensible.

   I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime.

   The perpetrators of this heinous act must be brought to justice.

   • 2021 October 12, Jamie Lyall, “Faroe Islands 0-1 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Perhaps burdened by the weight of history, talk of the heinous 2-2 draw in 2002, or the magnitude of the fixture, Scotland seemed spooked in the early throes.

• (totally reprehensible): abominable, horrible, odious

• unheinous (rare)

• heinously
• heinousness
• unheinous

• hate

• in house, in-house, inhouse