Word.ws English Dictionary

heads will roll

heads will roll phrase: some people will be fired for incompetence or malfeasance.

Phrase

heads will roll

  1. (idiomatic) Some people will be fired for incompetence or malfeasance.
    • If this project isn't completed on time, heads will roll.

Origin of heads will roll

From the imagery of a head rolling on the ground when a person is decapitated as punishment for a crime.

Questions about heads will roll

What does heads will roll mean?
Heads will roll means some people will be fired for incompetence or malfeasance.
What part of speech is heads will roll?
Heads will roll is a phrase.

Words near heads will roll in the dictionary

  1. heads out
  2. heads south
  3. heads up
  4. heads up, seven up
  5. heads ups
  6. heads will roll
  7. heads-down
  8. heads-up
  9. heads-up digitizing
  10. heads-up display
  11. heads-up displays

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heads will roll (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 will roll.ogg.

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