HEAVINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does heaviness mean? 

• HEAVINESS (noun)
  The noun HEAVINESS has 5 senses:

1. the property of being comparatively great in weight

2. persisting sadness

3. an oppressive quality that is laborious and solemn and lacks grace or fluency

4. used of a line or mark

5. unwelcome burdensome difficulty

  Familiarity information: HEAVINESS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEAVINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The property of being comparatively great in weight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

heaviness; weightiness

Context example:

the heaviness of lead

Hypernyms ("heaviness" is a kind of...):

weight (the vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "heaviness"):

heft; heftiness; massiveness; ponderosity; ponderousness (the property of being large in mass)

preponderance (exceeding in heaviness; having greater weight)

Antonym:

lightness (the property of being comparatively small in weight)

Derivation:

heavy (usually describes a large person who is fat but has a large frame to carry it)

heavy (full of; bearing great weight)

heavy (of comparatively great physical weight or density)

heavy ((physics, chemistry) being or containing an isotope with greater than average atomic mass or weight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Persisting sadness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Context example:

nothing lifted the heaviness of her heart after her loss

Hypernyms ("heaviness" is a kind of...):

sadness; unhappiness (emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being)

Derivation:

heavy (marked by great psychological weight; weighted down especially with sadness or troubles or weariness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An oppressive quality that is laborious and solemn and lacks grace or fluency

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

heaviness; ponderousness

Context example:

his lectures tend to heaviness and repetition

Hypernyms ("heaviness" is a kind of...):

uninterestingness (inability to capture or hold one's interest)

Derivation:

heavy (lacking lightness or liveliness)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Used of a line or mark

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

heaviness; thickness

Hypernyms ("heaviness" is a kind of...):

broadness; wideness (the property of being wide; having great width)

Derivation:

heavy (of relatively large extent and density)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Unwelcome burdensome difficulty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

burdensomeness; heaviness; onerousness; oppressiveness

Hypernyms ("heaviness" is a kind of...):

difficultness; difficulty (the quality of being difficult)

Derivation:

heavy (characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort)

heavy (unusually great in degree or quantity or number)

 Context examples 

A measurement of the heaviness of a body organ.

(Organ Weight, NCI Thesaurus)

Airway Questionnaire 20 (AQ20) Do you have a feeling of chest heaviness?

(AQ20 - Feeling of Chest Heaviness, NCI Thesaurus)

There is a strange heaviness in the air—I say heaviness for want of a better word; I mean that it oppresses us both.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A question about whether an individual has or had heaviness.

(Have Heaviness, NCI Thesaurus)

Tingling, numbness, heaviness, and other feelings that occur after an acupuncture needle has been properly placed in the body.

(De qi sensation, NCI Dictionary)

A question about whether an individual has or had a feeling of fullness or heaviness in the area of the stomach.

(Have Feeling of Fullness or Heaviness in Stomach Area, NCI Thesaurus)

He began again with a bit of a heaviness in his head the next day—that is, a fortnight sin'—and he went to sleep and niver wakened: he wor a'most stark when your brother went into t' chamber and fand him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If you have symptoms, they may include: • Pain, numbness, achiness, or heaviness in the leg muscles • Weak or absent pulses in the legs or feet • Sores or wounds on the toes, feet, or legs that heal slowly, poorly, or not at all • A pale or bluish color to the skin • A lower temperature in one leg than the other leg • Poor nail growth on the toes and decreased hair growth on the legs • Erectile dysfunction, especially among men who have diabetes

(Peripheral Arterial Disease, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)