Word.ws English Dictionary

heads up

heads up interjection: used as an informal warning, caution, or call for attention; pay attention! Also the alternative spelling of heads-up.

Interjection

  1. (idiomatic) Used as an informal warning, caution, or call for attention; pay attention!
    • Heads up! I'm about to let go.
    • Heads up! The boss is coming.
    Synonyms:
    look out!, look sharp!, watch it!, watch out!, avast [⇒ thesaurus]!, beware!, blackfriars!, cave!, cheese it!, heads up!

Adjective

heads up (not comparable)

  1. Containing only two players.

Also used as

heads up is also the alternative spelling of heads-up.

heads up is also the third-person singular simple present indicative of head up.

Synonyms of heads up

  • look out!
  • look sharp!
  • watch it!
  • watch out!
  • avast [⇒ thesaurus]!
  • beware!
  • blackfriars!
  • cave!
  • cheese it!
  • heads up!
8 more synonymsFewer synonyms
  • hey up!
  • hist!
  • look alive!
  • look lively!
  • mind out!
  • namous!
  • take care!
  • ware!

Forms of heads up

pluralheads ups

Questions about heads up

What does heads up mean?
Heads up means used as an informal warning, caution, or call for attention; pay attention!
What part of speech is heads up?
Heads up can be an interjection or an adjective.

Words near heads up in the dictionary

  1. heads off at the pass
  2. heads or harps
  3. heads or tails
  4. heads out
  5. heads south
  6. heads up
  7. heads up, seven up
  8. heads ups
  9. heads will roll
  10. heads-down
  11. heads-up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heads up (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-heads up.ogg.

Cite this entry: “heads up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heads_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.