heads 1 of 2

noun

plural of head
1
as in skulls
the upper or front part of the body that contains the brain, the major sense organs, and the mouth I hit my head as I went through the low doorway

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in helms
the place of leadership or command every year a different parent is placed at the head of the troop's cookie drive

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in foams
a light mass of fine bubbles formed in or on a liquid the head on the ice cream soda rose a good two inches above the rim of the glass

Synonyms & Similar Words
4
as in guys
a member of the human race the tour guide counted heads, and everyone was present

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in crises
a time or state of affairs requiring prompt or decisive action when the disagreement between the two departments came to a head, the CEO called both managers in for a closed-door meeting

Synonyms & Similar Words
6
as in headwaters
the beginning part of a stream Lake Itasca in Minnesota is the head of the Mississippi River

Synonyms & Similar Words
7
as in tops
the highest part or point stood at the head of the stairs and looked down

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
8
as in minds
the part of a person that feels, thinks, perceives, wills, and especially reasons challenged us to put our heads together and find a solution to the skyrocketing costs of the company's health insurance plans

Synonyms & Similar Words
9
as in bosses
the person (as an employer or supervisor) who tells people and especially workers what to do as head of the planning committee, he had the responsibility of appointing someone to look into the parking situation

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
10
as in dams
a bank of earth constructed to control water built a head to create a millpond

Synonyms & Similar Words
11
as in bathrooms
a room furnished with a fixture for flushing body waste give me a chance to visit the head, and I'll be all set to go

Synonyms & Similar Words
12
as in users
a person who regularly uses drugs especially illegally a shop near campus where all the heads used to get their paraphernalia

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
13
as in fans
a person with a strong and habitual liking for something she's a total tech head who adores home electronics and computers

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
14
as in headings
a word or series of words often in larger letters placed at the beginning of a passage or at the top of a page in order to introduce or categorize rechecked to make sure that all the heads were in boldface

Synonyms & Similar Words
15
as in talents
a special and usually inborn ability I have no head for numbers

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

heads

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of head
1
as in turns
to go on a specified course or in a certain direction she'll be heading out east in the fall to attend college

Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in leads
to be at the front of heading the procession at the dog show was a miniature poodle, followed by dogs seemingly of every breed

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in supervises
to be in charge of who headed the CIA when Ronald Reagan was president?

Synonyms & Similar Words
4
as in goes
to be positioned along a certain course or in a certain direction the road to riches headed north, thought many, as off they went to Alaska to try their luck at panning gold

Synonyms & Similar Words
5
as in aims
to point or turn (something) toward a target or goal after a long day at the beach, we headed the car toward home

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
6
as in commands
to serve as leader of Robert La Salle headed the expedition that claimed Louisiana for the French king

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
7
as in decapitates
to cut off the head of got a job at the slaughterhouse heading cattle

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of heads
Noun
For now, his dream to referee at a men’s World Cup must wait until 2030 at the earliest when the tournament heads to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. — Aleks Klosok, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2026 Trump frequently posts official government announcements exclusively on Truth Social, including military attacks and ceasefires, the hiring and firing of agency heads, and major domestic policies, the lawsuit said. — Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 12 Aug. 2026 Lucas Jackson | Reuters After years of standing in the sun, retail investors could have a dark cloud forming over their heads. — Alex Harring, CNBC, 12 Aug. 2026 Women carry these on their heads in a festival every four years, incorporating pagan and harvest rituals into Catholic celebration during the Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) in late June or early July (next up in 2027). — Tribune Content Agency, Baltimore Sun, 12 Aug. 2026 But first, Roy has to undo all the booby traps in there placed to mess with visiting teams’ heads. — Hannah Abraham, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026 The plastic fronds of a six-foot-tall blowup palm tree shaded the tubbers’ heads, and a folding beach lounger sat unattended nearby. — Literary Hub, 11 Aug. 2026 Continue reading … PULPIT POWER — Megachurch pastor scores primary win in Kansas, heads for big money showdown. — FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2026 Both teams’ heads of baseball operations already were under immense scrutiny. — Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026
Verb
The track heads down Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 9th Street NW, then doubles back to 7th Street, then goes south to Independence Avenue alongside the National Mall before looping back to 3rd Street. — ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026 Kennedy, who heads the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees the FDA, is a longtime skeptic of vaccines. — Alice Park, Time, 6 Aug. 2026 However, the storm risk heads upward for Tuesday through Thursday. — Rachael Jay, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2026 Bolies, who joined Variety earlier this year as our first AI beat reporter, made the trek to Las Vegas in part to moderate a session with filmmaker Scott Mann, who heads the AI tech firm Flawless. — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 6 Aug. 2026 Before every game, Worthy heads over to the goalpost and talks to his grandma, who passed away right before he was drafted. — Kansas City Star, 5 Aug. 2026 Heavy equipment heads Moonward Interlune and Vermeer will develop an autonomous tool designed to prepare the lunar surface for construction activities. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 30 July 2026 This was their experience with 3D design, according to Bhargava Ram Kamimura, who heads digital product creation at the Swedish fast fashion giant. — Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 29 July 2026 Katharine McPhee heads to celebrity-favorite restaurant Craig’s in Los Angeles in a stylish a burgundy leather top and matching purse and heels on July 25. — Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 29 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heads
  1. skulls
  2. helms
  3. foams
  4. guys
  5. crises
  6. headwaters
  7. tops
  8. minds
Noun
  • All the while the fMRI churned on, peering through the dogs’ skulls into the brain below and looking for the areas that lit up as a result of the visual stimuli.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Yak skulls, tails and hair hang in a barn overseen by a furtive gray cat.
    — David Kelly, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of skulls
Noun
  • The young chef helms Maximo, a modern Mexican restaurant focused on heirloom corn and masa in the West University Place area of Houston.
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 16 June 2026
  • Charlie Day helms Luigi, Jack Black is Bowser, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Keegan-Michael Key will play Toad.
    — Michael Saponara, Billboard, 10 Mar. 2026
Definition of helms
Noun
  • For decades, the military has extinguished fires using foams containing toxic PFAS.
    — Austin Fast, USA Today, 26 July 2026
  • But some Western brands—among them Nike—import the raw materials for these foams into China, adding to their production costs.
    — Scott Douglas, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026
Definition of foams
Noun
  • All these guys, all my teammates, all my coaches, everybody in this building loves it.
    — Sam Warren, New York Times, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Finding all these guys, and so many more peppering the scene, served as an important reminder.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of guys
Noun
  • Washington — Senate Democrats demanded answers Wednesday about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, following reports of food shortages, broken plumbing and mental health crises during the aircraft carrier's record-setting deployment.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Companies must ask what successors aren't ready for and what's being done *now* to prepare them, ensuring a strong leadership bench and avoiding costly crises.
    — Roberta Matuson, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of crises
Noun
  • The headwaters of this 1,400-mile long artery are in the Rocky Mountains, fed by melting snowpack.
    — Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 22 July 2026
  • Following an exceedingly warm year that has left the Colorado River’s headwaters in the Rocky Mountains largely snowless, Lake Mead is nearing a record-low level.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2026
Definition of headwaters
Noun
  • The mobile bar is a converted two-horse thoroughbred horse trailer that her father helped convert, installing sinks, bar tops, a fridge.
    — Pamela McLoughlin, Hartford Courant, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Sprinkle the tops with Demerara sugar and the remaining salt.
    — Laura Mclively, Mercury News, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of tops
Noun
  • When most of us think about edible seeds, our minds usually jump to chia seeds stirred into smoothies or overnight oats, pumpkin seeds roasted after carving jack-o'-lanterns each fall, or sunflower seeds chewed and spit out at a baseball game.
    — Daryl Austin, USA Today, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Aside from Wolff, the cast consists of the comedic minds behind Almost Friday TV, a sketch crew born out of the digital media company Almost Friday Media.
    — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of minds

Phrases Containing heads

Browse Nearby Words

headquarters
heads
head-scratcher
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Heads.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heads. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on heads

Nglish: Translation of heads for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of salvo

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

'Gaslighting,' 'Woke,' 'Democracy,' and Other Top Lookups
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All