as in careful
having or showing a close attentiveness to avoiding danger or trouble
heedful of snakes, we watched our footing while walking through the tall grass to the lake's edge
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Recent Examples of heedful
In ancient times a heedful list is a ship of the mind.
—
Jay Pilgreen, Kansas City Star, 12 Feb. 2024
Enduring decades of bans for its salacious content, D.H. Lawrence's 1928 avant-garde novel gets a fresh adaptation under the heedful eye of Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, who deftly explores the depths of female desire.
—Lia Beck, EW.com, 12 Jan. 2024
Her heedful eyes meet those of a young Black girl in overalls and braids on the other side of the room.
—Hazlitt, 9 Aug. 2023
That’s partly because retailers have grown less heedful about developing the necessary pipelines, a problem that’s worsened in recent years as retailers saw profits crushed by a push into low-margin e-commerce.
—Phil Wahba, Fortune, 13 Feb. 2023
As with recent demands to defund the police or abolish ICE amid our domestic upheavals, such calls should be heard not as literal policy prescriptions but as cries from the heart that demand heedful response.
—Suzanne Nossel, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2022
Zhi-shay’ was horrified by his brother’s treatment, but also heedful of the powerful pack rules in which such cruelty is embedded.
—Pamela Miller, Star Tribune, 7 Aug. 2020
McMillan initially promised to train fissile material handlers to be more heedful of plutonium-handling perils, for example, and to bring the inventory and safety documents guiding their work up to date.
—R. Jeffrey Smith, Science | AAAS, 30 June 2017
Jay Pilgreen, Kansas City Star, 12 Feb. 2024
Enduring decades of bans for its salacious content, D.H. Lawrence's 1928 avant-garde novel gets a fresh adaptation under the heedful eye of Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, who deftly explores the depths of female desire.
—Lia Beck, EW.com, 12 Jan. 2024
Her heedful eyes meet those of a young Black girl in overalls and braids on the other side of the room.
—Hazlitt, 9 Aug. 2023
That’s partly because retailers have grown less heedful about developing the necessary pipelines, a problem that’s worsened in recent years as retailers saw profits crushed by a push into low-margin e-commerce.
—Phil Wahba, Fortune, 13 Feb. 2023
As with recent demands to defund the police or abolish ICE amid our domestic upheavals, such calls should be heard not as literal policy prescriptions but as cries from the heart that demand heedful response.
—Suzanne Nossel, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2022
Zhi-shay’ was horrified by his brother’s treatment, but also heedful of the powerful pack rules in which such cruelty is embedded.
—Pamela Miller, Star Tribune, 7 Aug. 2020
McMillan initially promised to train fissile material handlers to be more heedful of plutonium-handling perils, for example, and to bring the inventory and safety documents guiding their work up to date.
—R. Jeffrey Smith, Science | AAAS, 30 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heedful
Adjective
-
Be careful when riding back downtown on a bike, as the hill notoriously increases cycling speed.—
Iona Brannon,
Travel + Leisure,
13 June 2026
-
The Main Match Concealer is available in 22 shades, with careful consideration for South Asian undertones (which are often breezed by).—
Jailynn Taylor,
Allure,
13 June 2026
Adjective
-
The move suggests a broader shift in Tehran, where a new generation of leaders is increasingly abandoning the cautious, reactive approach that long defined the Islamic Republic’s strategy towards its adversaries.—
Abbas Al Lawati,
CNN Money,
10 June 2026
-
Ciara is very cautious and played it slow in opening her heart up to West.—
Marlow Stern,
Variety,
10 June 2026
Adjective
-
Beijing is widely seen to be wary of that program, which has traditionally heightened American focus on the region and risks instability that could impact China, which shares a border with North Korea.—
Simone McCarthy,
CNN Money,
8 June 2026
-
Separately, some remain wary of the consequences of redundancies across certain functions.—
Meg Short,
Fortune,
7 June 2026
Adjective
-
The system uses a network of acoustic sensors to detect, locate and alert police to shots fired.—
Divya Ramjee,
The Conversation,
8 June 2026
-
Stay alert and avoid headphones on trails.—
Nic Uff,
ABC News,
8 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Heedful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heedful. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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