1
: a prefixed note of comment or explanation
2
: a note prefixed to the report of a decided legal case
Examples of headnote in a Sentence
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Editor's Note: This recipe was developed by Julia Levy; the headnote was written by Kimberly Holland.
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Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 31 Jan. 2026
The one thing that headnotes did have going for them was that they were written by human legal researchers working for the publishing companies, so a headnote did almost always say what the opinion said, even if there was no context.
—Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 9 Jan. 2026
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Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 31 Jan. 2026
The one thing that headnotes did have going for them was that they were written by human legal researchers working for the publishing companies, so a headnote did almost always say what the opinion said, even if there was no context.
—Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 9 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Headnote.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/headnote. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
headnote
noun
head·note
ˈhed-ˌnōt 
: a summary prefixed to the report of a decided legal case stating the principles or rulings of the decision and usually the main facts of the case
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