heady

adjective

ˈhe-dē 

headier; headiest

1

a

: willful, rash

heady opinions

b

: violent, impetuous

2

a

: tending to intoxicate or make giddy or elated

heady wine

being in such distinguished company was a heady experience

b

: giddy, exhilarated

heady with his success

c

: rich

a heady sauce

a heady variety

d

: impressive

a man of heady accomplishments

3

a

: marked by or showing good judgment : shrewd, intelligent

b

: intellectually stimulating or demanding

headily

ˈhe-də-lē 

adverb

headiness

ˈhe-dē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• ecstatic
• elated
• elevated
• enrapt
• enraptured
• entranced
• euphoric
• exhilarated
• giddy
• intoxicated
• rapt
• rapturous
• rhapsodic
• rhapsodical

Examples of heady in a Sentence

The plane soared to heady heights.

They were heady with their newfound success.

Recent Examples on the Web

Gloria obliged, balancing out Jay’s heady rhymes with spoken reminiscences, making the track feel like a mini oral history. —Zach Schonfeld, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2024

Alongside is a sidecar of vanilla-tonka bean maple syrup, heady with the almond-y, fresh-hay scent of coumarin — a naturally occurring chemical in the seeds of the kumaru tree. —Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2024

The business of television during the heady Thatcherite ’80s feels fundamentally at odds with the bucolic Cotswolds setting—an aesthetic clash of giant cellphones and gentle pastures, boardroom meetings and stray sheep. —Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 1 Nov. 2024

Benson recognized the marketplace implication of a literal and figurative proximity to art, above all its capacity to infuse her store and its wares with a heady sense of downtown cool. —Natasha Degen, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

heady

adjective

ˈhed-ē 

headier; headiest

1

: willful sense 1, rash

2

: likely to make one giddy

heady wine

a heady height

headily

ˈhed-ə-lē 

adverb

headiness

ˈhed-ē-nəs 

noun