Word
heed
US/ˈhid/
UK/hˈiːd/
Definitions
01to follow advice
v. to listen to a warning or piece of advice and do what it says.
v. to pay attention to a warning or advice and act upon it. Transitive — takes a direct object.
“The driver failed to heed the warning signs and drove into the flooded road.”
“Economists warned of a coming recession, but few politicians chose to heed their advice until the market actually crashed.”
Formal
02careful attention
n. careful attention that you give to someone or something.
n. careful attention or notice. Uncountable; most commonly used in the fixed expression 'take heed'.
“You should take heed of what the doctor says about your diet.”
“The government paid little heed to the growing public outcry regarding the new tax legislation.”
Literary · Formal
Usage
Usually appears in the phrase 'take heed of' or 'pay heed to'.
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“But this fire was a warning, and they need to heed it.” “Ukrainians appear to be heeding the advice of authorities.” Etymology
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”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Idioms
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/heed