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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

headlong.

With the head first or down.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/ˈhɛd.lɒŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɛd.lɔŋ/General-American/ˈhɛd.lɑŋ/cot-caught-merger
  1. With the head first or down.

    not-comparable
  2. With an unrestrained forward motion.

    not-comparable
    Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.
  3. Rashly; precipitately; without deliberation; in haste, hastily.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hedlong, alteration of hedling, heedling, hevedlynge (“headlong”), assimilated to long. More at headling.

adj/ˈhɛd.lɒŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɛd.lɔŋ/General-American/ˈhɛd.lɑŋ/cot-caught-merger
  1. Precipitous.

  2. Plunging downwards head foremost.

  3. Rushing forward without restraint.

  4. Reckless; impetuous.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hedlong, alteration of hedling, heedling, hevedlynge (“headlong”), assimilated to long. More at headling.

verb/ˈhɛd.lɒŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɛd.lɔŋ/General-American/ˈhɛd.lɑŋ/cot-caught-merger
  1. To precipitate.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English hedlong, alteration of hedling, heedling, hevedlynge (“headlong”), assimilated to long. More at headling.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.