heavy metal
/ˈhɛv.i ˌmɛt.əl/
heavy metal noun: any metal that has a specific gravity greater than about 5, especially one, such as lead, that is poisonous and may be a hazard in the environment. (There are many different definitions of what counts as a heavy metal; see Heavy metals for a discussion.).
Noun
heavy metal (countable and uncountable, plural heavy metals)
- Any metal that has a specific gravity greater than about 5, especially one, such as lead, that is poisonous and may be a hazard in the environment. (There are many different definitions of what counts as a heavy metal; see Heavy metals for a discussion.)
- A genre descended from rock music, characterized by the use of emphatic drumbeats, highly amplified distortion, and overall loudness; often featuring extended instrumental solos and powerful vocals.
- Synonyms:
- metal
- The first form of metal music, which arose in the late 1960s and the 1970s, and is closer to the rock music of the time than most other subgenres of metal.
- Guns or shot of large size.
- Great influence or power.
heavy metal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Kannada
heavy metal in Hindi
- genre of music
- हेवी मेटल hevī meṭal
heavy metal in Tamil
- அடர், அடர் பொன்மம், அடர் மாழை, கன உலோகம்
heavy metal in Marathi
- genre of music
- हेव्ही मेटल hevhī meṭal
heavy metal in Kannada
- ಭಾರ ಲೋಹ
More languagesFewer languages
- heavy metal in Arabic
- مُوسِيقَى الْمِيتَال mūsīqā l-mītāl, هيفي ميتال hīfī mītāl
- heavy metal in Malay
- logam berat
- heavy metal in Indonesian
- logam berat
- heavy metal in Thai
- เฮฟวีเมทัล, โลหะหนัก
Synonyms of heavy metal
Forms of heavy metal
| plural | heavy metals |
|---|
Origin of heavy metal
According to the Oxford World's Classics edition of Anthony Trollope's Rachel Ray (1863), "big guns," as on a warship. The origin of the music genre sense is often disputed; it was used by William S. Burroughs in Soft Machine and Nova Express and various music critics claim to have coined it: Sandy Pearlman, Lester Bangs and Mike Saunders.
Words formed from heavy metal
Questions about heavy metal
- What does heavy metal mean?
- Heavy metal means any metal that has a specific gravity greater than about 5, especially one, such as lead, that is poisonous and may be a hazard in the environment. (There are many different definitions of what counts as a heavy metal; see Heavy metals for a discussion.).
- What is heavy metal in Hindi?
- Heavy metal in Hindi is हेवी मेटल (hevī meṭal). See Heavy metal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is heavy metal?
- Heavy metal is a noun.
- How do you pronounce heavy metal?
- Heavy metal is pronounced /ˈhɛv.i ˌmɛt.əl/ (US).
- What is the plural of heavy metal?
- The plural of heavy metal is heavy metals.
Words near heavy metal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heavy metal (page history and authors); heavy metal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heavy metal (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-heavy metal.wav.
Cite this entry: “heavy metal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heavy_metal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.