heed

²heed

noun \ˈhēd\

Definition of HEED

: attention, notice

Examples of HEED

1. <took heed of the student's learning disability so as to arrive at reasonable expectations for him>
2. <pay heed to what you're doing with that knife while you're talking>
3. Neither the British ministry nor the British Parliament welcomed American voices in determining policy in 1763, or ever. The British government paid little heed to the public press on either side of the water. —Edmund S. Morgan, New York Review of Books, 16 Nov. 2006
4. She retrained as a doctor and it was through her pioneering research with cancer patients in the early 1960s (she showed how narcotics could be used without adverse effect) that the medical profession began to take heed. —Kate Kellaway, Prospect, January 2003
5. Imagine swimming along with playful seals and then diving down to see such rarities as batfish. … Fleets of hammerhead sharks pay divers no heed, nor do the penguins move out of the way. —Town & Country, January 1983

Origin of HEED

(see ¹heed)

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to HEED

Synonyms: advertence, advertency, awareness, cognizance, consciousness, ear, eye, attention, knowledge, mindfulness, note, notice, observance, observation

Antonyms: heedlessness, inattentiveness, negligence

Related Words: hyperawareness, hyperconsciousness; advisement, care, concern, consideration, regard, watch; apprehension, discernment, grasp, mind, perception, recognition, thought, understanding

Near Antonyms: disregard, neglect, obliviousness, unawareness

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