How to use headlong in a sentence

21 example sentences · adverb, adjective, verb

Headlong means with the head first or down. Example: “Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.”

Examples of headlong by meaning

adverbWith an unrestrained forward motion.

Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.
The remaining German ships make a hard turn southeast, and drive headlong at the Grand Fleet.2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 24:24 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original...
I felt deja vu as I recalled a video in which a Tesla owner slammed on the brakes after his car appeared set on crashing headlong into a construction site.2021 November 18, Matt McFarland, “We tried Tesla’s ‘full self-driving.’ Here’s what happened”, in CNN

adjectivePrecipitous.

Their path led them past sharp cliffs, along narrow trails unknown and untrodden, past headlong boulders strewn across barren, treeless, wind-haunted heights.1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 35

adjectivePlunging downwards head foremost.

On sighting their prey, they check their flight and hurtle in a headlong dive to the sea.1993, Michael Hume Jackson, Galapagos, a Natural History, page 143

adjectiveRushing forward without restraint.

Bumps, bruises, and scratches are often the result of their efforts to outstrip each other in the headlong race.1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 243

verbTo precipitate.

Trolley-cars rushed by, clanging and grinding as they headlonged into the side streets.1905, Liberty Hyde Bailey, The outlook to nature

More sentences with headlong

Very good luck, for they entered a neap rushing headlong toward shore and into a river beyond.2008, Toni Morrison, A Mercy, Chatto & Windus, page 115. From the entry neap
In Hollywood, rehearsing for his show, Red Skelton plunged headlong into a "breakaway" door.1954 August 30, “The Week in Review”, in Time. From the entry breakaway
And at last, as they wrestled and whapped together, they fell headlong in the stream.1902, Henry Van Dyke, “The Mill”, in The Blue Flower, New York: Scribner, page 65. From the entry whap
It's the headlong chocolate-dopamine surge that excites.2017 January 31, Jim Myers, “Nashville's Best Candies for Valentine's Day”, in Tennesseean. From the entry frabjous
But immediately we run headlong into the issue of copywrong.1998 March 23, Network World, volume 15, number 12. From the entry copywrong
In the final scene, the fish-eyed camera plummets headlong down the rope toward the ground in the idiom of the helmet-cammed bungee jump.2010, Roger Stahl, Militainment, Inc.: War, Media, and Popular Culture, New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 72. From the entry fish-eyed
She falls headlong at the end of the ballet’s Tema Russo movement, and the unfudged dynamics make the moment seem like a tragic thunderclap.2007 June 25, Alastair Macaulay, “33 Years, and Good to the Last Pirouette”, in New York Times. From the entry unfudged
Then with melodious tootlings and amidst guttural plaudits, a big white automobile carrying a glitter of uniforms had gone by, driven at a headlong pace.1918, H. G. Wells, chapter 12, in Joan and Peter, London: Cassell, page 491. From the entry tootling
In a bid to escape the vagaries of consumer electronics, Samsung may be ploughing headlong into the areas most ripe for invasion by a new breed of emerging-market titans.2011, The Economist, Samsung: The next big bet. From the entry plough into
Sirayan pragmatism was obviously the key reason that they showed no desire to make a headlong rush into the new faith, but Candidius blamed the inibs for this recalcitrance.2008, Chiu Hsin-Hui, The Colonial 'civilizing Process' in Dutch Formosa: 1624 - 1662, →ISBN. From the entry Sirayan
He feels like a leaf or a seed in the grip of a headlong force, a winged seed drawn up into the highest windstream, carried dizzily above the oceans.1994, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 6, in The Master of Petersburg, London: Secker & Warburg, page 57. From the entry wind stream
DON QUIXOTE DE LA JOLLA is, then, a headlong, hectic, hilarious rush, a frantic comic phantasmagoria on Quixotic themes, that needs no scholar annotations; it is great good fun.1993, Eric Overmyer, Don Quixote de la Jolla. From the entry quixotic
In Strathfillan, Perthshire, people are cured of insanity by being made to go three times deasil round a certain pool and then being plunged headlong into it.1939, Wilson Dallam Wallis, Religion in Primitive Society, New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., page 160. From the entry deasil
With Waichow subdued and the enemy troops in the entire area surrendering or in headlong flight, Chiang struck at another malcontent general and captured the coastal city of Swatow.1938, Robert Berkov, Strong Man of China: The Story of Chiang Kai-shek, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 46. From the entry Swatow

Meaning of headlong

adverb With the head first or down.
adverb With an unrestrained forward motion.
adverb Rashly; precipitately; without deliberation; in haste, hastily.

Full definition of headlong

Questions about headlong in a sentence

How do you use headlong in a sentence?: Headlong is used as an adverb, adjective and verb. For example: “Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.”
What is a short sentence with headlong?: “It's the headlong chocolate-dopamine surge that excites.”
What does headlong mean?: Headlong means with the head first or down.

Adapted from Wiktionary: headlong (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use headlong in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/headlong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.