Word.ws English Dictionary

the heck

the heck adverb: used for emphasis after an interrogative word.

Adverb

the heck

  1. (euphemistic) Used for emphasis after an interrogative word.
    • What the heck are you doing?
  2. (euphemistic) Intensifies a phrasal verb; goes between the base verb and its modifier.
    • Elevators make me throw the heck up.
    Synonyms:
    the dickens

Synonyms of the heck

Questions about the heck

What does the heck mean?
The heck means used for emphasis after an interrogative word.
What part of speech is the heck?
The heck is an adverb.

Words near the heck in the dictionary

  1. The Heart
  2. the heart wants what it wants
  3. the heart wants what the heart wants
  4. the heat is on
  5. the heavens open
  6. the heck
  7. the heck out of
  8. the hell
  9. the hell out of
  10. the hell with it
  11. the hell you say

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the heck (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)-Flame, not lame-the heck.wav.

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