Word.ws English Dictionary

have a head on one's shoulders

have a head on one's shoulders verb: to have good sense or judgement.

Verb

have a head on one's shoulders (third-person singular simple present has a head on one's shoulders, present participle having a head on one's shoulders, simple past and past participle had a head on one's shoulders)

  1. To have good sense or judgement.
    • "You'd best keep the tatts till he's drunk," said Killigrew drily, "for I think you'll find my lord has a head on his shoulders when he's sober."1897, Frances Heath Freshfield, The Wrothams of Wrotham Court, page 73

Forms of have a head on one's shoulders

third-person singular presenthas a head on one's shoulders
present participlehaving a head on one's shoulders
past participlehad a head on one's shoulders
pasthad a head on one's shoulders

Questions about have a head on one's shoulders

What does have a head on one's shoulders mean?
Have a head on one's shoulders means to have good sense or judgement.
What part of speech is have a head on one's shoulders?
Have a head on one's shoulders is a verb.
What is the past tense of have a head on one's shoulders?
The past tense of have a head on one's shoulders is had a head on one's shoulders.

Words near have a head on one's shoulders in the dictionary

  1. have a hand in
  2. have a handle on
  3. have a hard time
  4. have a hard time of it
  5. have a head for
  6. have a head on one's shoulders
  7. have a heart
  8. have a jag on
  9. have a laugh
  10. have a lend of
  11. have a listen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have a head on one's shoulders (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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