ENGLISH
REFERENCE

heed

v.
C1 Advanced US //ˈhid// UK //hˈiːd// heed Archaic

v. to pay close attention to someone's advice or a warning. You use this when you want to say that someone should listen and act carefully.

v. to pay attention to or take notice of someone's advice, warning, or information. Transitive — requires a direct object.


SIMPLE

You should heed the warnings about the storm.

CONTEXTUAL

The driver failed to heed the speed limit signs and received a heavy fine.

COMPLEX

Economists warned of a coming recession, but few politicians chose to heed their advice until the market actually began to collapse.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

From Middle English heden, from Old English hēdan (“to heed, take care, observe, attend, guard, take charge, take possession, receive”), from Proto-West Germanic hōdijan (“to heed, guard”), from Proto-Indo-European kadʰ- (“to heed, protect”). Cognate with West Frisian hoedje (“to heed”), Dutch hoeden (“to heed”), German hüten (“to heed”).

Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object; it is more formal than 'listen to' or 'follow'.

Pitfall

heed to the adviceheed the adviceHeed is a transitive verb and does not take the preposition 'to'.

Idioms3 entries

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