Word.ws English Dictionary

heat

/ˈhiːt/UK/hiːt/

heat noun: thermal energy. Also the simple past and past participle of heat.

Noun (1)

heat (countable and uncountable, plural heats)

  1. (uncountable) Thermal energy.
    • Heat and temperature, although different, are intimately related. [...] For example, suppose you added equal amounts of heat to equal masses of iron and aluminum. How do you think their temperatures would change?[…]if the temperature of the iron increased by 100 C°, the corresponding temperature...2007, James Shipman, Jerry Wilson, Aaron Todd, An Introduction to Physical Science: Twelfth Edition, pages 106–108
    • Heat limits the length and intensity of ship-to-ship combat. Starships generate enormous heat when they fire high-energy weapons, perform maneuvering burns, and run on-board combat electronics.
    • In combat, warships produce heat more quickly than they can disperse it. As heat builds within a vessel, the crewed spaces become increasingly uncomfortable. Before the heat reaches lethal levels, a ship must win or retreat by entering FTL. After an FTL run, the ships halts, shuts down...2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Space Combat: Combat Endurance Codex entry
  2. The condition or quality of being hot.
    • Stay out of the heat of the sun!
  3. (uncountable) An attribute of a spice that causes a burning sensation in the mouth.
    • The chili sauce gave the dish heat.
  4. (uncountable) A period of intensity, particularly of emotion.
    • It's easy to make bad decisions in the heat of the moment.
    Synonyms:
    passion, vehemence
  5. (uncountable) An undesirable amount of attention.
    • The heat from her family after her DUI arrest was unbearable.
  6. (countable) A fastball.
    • The catcher called for the heat, high and tight.
  7. (uncountable) A condition in which a mammal is aroused sexually or where it is especially fertile and therefore eager to mate.
    • The male canines were attracted by the female in heat.
    Synonyms:
    rut
    1. (countable, slang) In omegaverse fiction, a cyclical period in which omegas experience an intense, sometimes irresistible biological urge to mate.
      • Some stories engage in dub-con scenarios where one or both partners are out of their minds with heat lust and lose all reasoning and inhibitions.2013, Kristina Busse, “Pon Farr, Mpreg, Bonds, and the Rise of the Omegaverse”, in Anne Jamison, editor, Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, page 321
      • When Yuri goes into his first heat, it is not only an uncomfortable and traumatic physical experience, it is also an identity crisis: this is the moment realizes that he is an omega, and not a beta as he had previously assumed.2017, Marianne Gunderson, "What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in omegaverse fanfiction", thesis submitted to the University of Oslo, page 40
    2. (endearing, slang) The sexual arousal of a person, likened to that of a mammal.
    3. (slang) Semi-softcore NSFW art, primarily when posted to video-sharing websites.
  8. (countable) A preliminary race, used to determine the participants in a final race.
    • The runner had high hopes, but was out of contention after the first heat.
  9. (broadly, countable) A stage in a competition, not necessarily a sporting one; a round.
    • The first heat of the Rotary Young Chef Competition went underway on Monday 16th December…2019 December 20, Becca, lakedistricthotels.net
  10. (countable) One cycle of bringing metal to maximum temperature and working it until it is too cool to work further.
    • I can make a scroll like that in a single heat.
    • The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows, full of a robust, and sometimes Rabelaisian sense of humour, and between "heats," they could be most entertaining.1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 13
  11. (countable) A hot spell.
    • The children stayed indoors during this year's summer heat.
  12. (uncountable) Heating system; a system that raises the temperature of a room or building.
    • I'm freezing; could you turn on the heat?
    • The couple's sustainability efforts also included installing radiant heat under the concrete-slab floor.2026 May, Julie Belcove, “Farm Fresh”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 93
Show 6 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (uncountable) The output of a heating system.
    • During the power outage we had no heat because the controls are electric. Older folks like more heat than the young.
  2. (countable) A violent action unintermitted; a single effort.
    • …many pauses are required for refreshment betwixt the heats….1767, John Dryden, THE MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN,Esq; Containing all his ORIGINAL POEMS, TITLES, AND TRANSLATIONS, IN FOUR VOLUMES.: VOLUME THE THIRD, page xxvii
  3. (slang, uncountable) The police.
    • The heat! Scram!
    • What a field day for the heat / A thousand people in the street1966 December, Stephen Stills, “For What It's Worth”performed by Buffalo Springfield
  4. (slang, uncountable) One or more firearms.
    • You carrying heat?" "You saw me unload the pistol," Hugo said. "It's in the waistband. And the kitchen knife. I need that for eating.1983, Larry Niven with Jerry Pournelle, Lucifer's hammer, page 508
    • Evidently, he wasn't carrying heat with him at the time." "Civilized place like Rome, why bother?" Granger observed.2004, Tom Clancy, The Teeth of the Tiger, page 62
  5. (slang, uncountable) Stylish and valuable sneakers.
    • Whoa, that guy is rocking some serious heat.
    • Even the boy bands had heat.2011 September 26, Nick Restivo, “Choreographed Kicks: A History of Boy Bands in Sneaker Heat”, in Complex, New York, N.Y.: Complex Networks, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Aug 2023
  6. (slang) A negative reaction from the audience, especially as a heel (or bad character), or in general.

Verb

heat (third-person singular simple present heats, present participle heating, simple past and past participle heated or (dialectal or obsolete) heat or (dialectal) het)

  1. (transitive) To cause an increase in temperature of (an object or space); to cause to become hot (often with "up").
    • I'll heat up the water.
  2. (intransitive) To become hotter.
    • There's a pot of soup heating on the stove.
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To excite or make hot by action or emotion; to make feverish.
    • Ile leaue you my ſweete Ladie, for a while, pray walke ſoftly, doe not heate your bloud, what, I muſt haue care of you.c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...
  4. (figuratively, transitive) To excite ardour in; to rouse to action; to excite to excess; to inflame, as the passions.
    • A noble emulation heats your breaſt, / And your own fame now robs you of your reſt.a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “To His Sacred Majesty. A Panegyric on his Coronation.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […]...
  5. (slang, transitive) To arouse, to excite (sexually).
    • The massage heated her up.

Noun (2) capitalized: HEAT

HEAT

  1. (abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of high explosive antitank, a munition using a high explosive shaped charge to breach armour.

Also used as

heat is also the simple past and past participle of heat.

heat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

heat in Hindi

thermal energy
गर्मी garmī, ऊष्मा ūṣmā, आँच ā̃c, गर्म garm, ताप tāp, तपन tapan
condition or quality of being hot
घर्म gharm, गर्म garm, गरम garam, तपन tapan
period of intensity, particularly of emotion
उद्रेक udrek
hot spell
गरमी garmī

heat in Tamil

thermal energy
சூடு cūṭu
preliminary race, used to determine the participants in a final race
தகுதிச்சுற்று takuticcuṟṟu

heat in Marathi

उष्णता

heat in Urdu

thermal energy
گرمی garmī, تپش tapiś, آنچ ānc
hot spell
گرمی garmī
More languagesFewer languages
heat in Bengali
তাপ, উত্তাপ
heat in Telugu
విద్యుత్చక్తి vidyutcakti, వేడి vēḍi, కారము పుట్టుట kāramu puṭṭuṭa, ఉద్రేకమ udrēkama
heat in Malayalam
ചൂട്, താപം, ചൂടു
heat in Kannada
ಶಾಖ
heat in Punjabi
ਗਰਮੀ
heat in Gujarati
તાપ tāp, ગરમી garmī, ઉકળાટ ukaḷāṭ
heat in Odia
ଉତ୍ତାପ
heat in Sanskrit
घृण ghṛṇa, घर्म gharma, तपस् tapas, तपति tapati
heat in Assamese
তাও taü, তাপ tap, গৰম gorom
heat in Nepali
तताउनु tatāunu
heat in Pashto
تودوخي tawdoxi
heat in Tagalog
init
heat in Arabic
حَرَارَة ḥarāra, سُخُونَة suḵūna, سَخَّنَ saḵḵana, أَحَرَّ ʔaḥarra
heat in Malay
haba, bahang, kepanasan
heat in Indonesian
kalor, panas, memanaskan
heat in Persian
گرما garmâ, داغی dāɣī, گرمی garmi
heat in Thai
ความร้อน kwaam-rɔ́ɔn, ความเผ็ด
heat in Vietnamese
hơi nóng, đun
Sindhi
وَڙُ vaṛu

Examples of heat in a sentence

  • This furnace puts out 5000 BTUs of heat. That engine is really throwing off some heat. Removal of heat from the liquid caused it to turn into a solid.
  • Heat and temperature, although different, are intimately related. [...] For example, suppose you added equal amounts of heat to equal masses of iron and aluminum.2007, James Shipman, Jerry Wilson, Aaron Todd, An Introduction to Physical Science: Twelfth Edition, pages 106–108:
  • Hannibal's first kiss and his alpha saliva trigger Will's heat, […]2018, Laura Campillo Arnaiz, “When the Omega Empath Met the Alpha Doctor: An Analysis of Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics in the Hannibal Fandom”...
  • If you’re black / You might as well not show up on the street / Unless you want to draw the heat1976, Jacques Levy, Bob Dylan, “Hurricane”, in Desire, performed by Bob Dylan:
  • You never show heat unless you plan to use it.2005, John Sayles, Pride of the Bimbos, page 187:

All 40 example sentences with heat

Synonyms of heat

All synonyms of heat

Forms of heat

Noun
pluralheats
Verb
third-person singular presentheats
present participleheating
past participleheated
pastheated
past participle (obsolete, dialectal)heat
past (obsolete, dialectal)heat
past participle (dialectal)het
past (dialectal)het

Past tense of heat: heated

Plural of heat: heats

Origin of heat

From Middle English hete, from Old English hǣtu, from Proto-West Germanic *haitī, from Proto-Germanic *haitį̄ (“heat”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“heat; hot”). Cognate with Scots hete (“heat”), Saterland Frisian Hatte (“heat”), Old High German heizī (“heat”). Related also to Dutch hitte (“heat”), German Hitze (“heat”), Swedish hetta (“heat”), Faroese and Icelandic hiti (“heat”). Related to hot.

From Middle English heten, from Old English hǣtan (“to heat; become hot”), from Proto-Germanic *haitijaną (“to heat, make hot”).

Either an alternative spelling of het (“heated”), a continuation of late Middle English heet, het (an analogical simple past of heten (“to heat”) created on the basis of bet, the past tense of beten (“to beat”)), or a later analogical formation from the past forms of beten's modern reflex beat.

Words formed from heat

Phrases with heat

92 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with heat

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about heat

What does heat mean?
Heat means thermal energy.
What is heat in Hindi?
Heat in Hindi is गर्मी (garmī), ऊष्मा (ūṣmā), आँच (ā̃c). See Heat meaning in Hindi.
How do you use heat in a sentence?
This furnace puts out 5000 BTUs of heat. That engine is really throwing off some heat. Removal of heat from the liquid caused it to turn into a solid.
What part of speech is heat?
Heat can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce heat?
Heat is pronounced /ˈhiːt/.
What is the plural of heat?
The plural of heat is heats.

Words near heat in the dictionary

  1. Heasley
  2. Heasleys
  3. heast
  4. Heaston
  5. Heastons
  6. heat
  7. heat alarm
  8. heat apoplexy
  9. heat bank
  10. heat banks
  11. heat barrier

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: heat (page history and authors); HEAT (page history and authors); heat (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heat (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heat (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heat (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heat (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heat (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-us-heat.ogg.

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