heels 1 of 2

noun

plural of heel
as in dogs
a person whose behavior is offensive to others felt like a heel when she found out that she'd blamed the wrong person

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

heels

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of heel
as in slopes
to set or cause to be at an angle the strong gust heeled the sailboat almost to the point of capsizing, but we managed to right it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of heels
Noun
Potts also helped Marshall fix his running form, running on the balls of his feet instead of his heels. — Pj Green october 14, Kansas City Star, 14 Oct. 2026 Plenty of celebrities like Chappell Roan, Paloma Elsesser and Katie Holmes have recently stepped out in looks that showcase fresh and unexpected ways of styling shoes for fall, from layering your heels to tucking your jeans into boots. — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026 For those lingering warm days of autumn, pair a brown suede jacket with a shrunken tee and micro shorts, then finish with suede ballet heels for even more texture. — Kristina Rutkowski, Vogue, 14 Oct. 2026 The update comes on the heels of security footage from Clarkson’s visit to the store being released, showing Clarkson wandering the store for about five minutes, including a rather brief interaction with a shop employee. — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026 The board's vote comes on the heels of an announcement from Minnesota State Chancellor Scott Olson last month of a systemwide redesign that will likely include campus closures, mergers or consolidated administrative services. — CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 London — Close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and think to yourself there’s no place like home. — Thomas Schlachter, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026 News of their divorce comes on the heels of LaBeouf’s series of arrests in New Orleans in February 2026. — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 13 Oct. 2026 Though Calvin’s children and sister Ruth (Willow Kean), who works as Snook’s Arms Harbor Master, realize there are very few resources left to hold on to, Calvin digs in his heels, determined to find a way forward. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
Verb
Savoy Brown also wore Manolo Blahnik heels with a Hanut Singh ring. — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 26 Feb. 2026 These sultry heels have a subtle pink hue like the Elisabet Tang heels, as well as eye-catching hold hardware on the back. — Jordan Julian, InStyle, 4 Feb. 2026 The action then moves to a studio where Law Roach is styling Adrina Lima who is wearing an archival Maison Margiela top with a Miss Claire Sullivan skirt and Helmut Lang heels. — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 23 Dec. 2025 Amanu, the youngest, is the most experimental, wearing business casual ties and button downs one day and trying on a sequined dress and heels the next. — Essence, 9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heels
  1. dogs
  2. slopes
  3. jerks
  4. tilts
  5. clowns
  6. angles
  7. skunks
  8. snakes
Noun
  • But using dogs to investigate crimes wasn’t widely adopted until the mid ‘80s, Gould said.
    — Natasha Holt, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The study found that larger dogs lose 35% more LINE1 methylation than smaller dogs.
    — Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of dogs
Verb
  • The rest of the Cambria isn’t bad, either, including the shops and galleries along Main Street (which is deceptively long) and the piney slopes above.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026
  • In rivers and streams in Virginia and Maryland, Hack measured the length of each stream and the area of the land that slopes toward that stream and therefore drains into it, called its basin or drainage area.
    — Natalie Wolchover, Quanta Magazine, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of slopes
Noun
  • Lee and his Burning co-writer Oh Jung-mi resist what might have been the first instinct of many filmmakers by refusing to make Ye-ji and Sang-woo overly patronizing rich jerks.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026
  • The Ars OpenForum is a place for readers to ask questions, compare notes, argue (without being jerks to each other), and go down all sorts of rabbit holes.
    — Eric Bangeman, ArsTechnica, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of jerks
Verb
  • El Niño is not a storm that hits at a particular location, but rather a long duration phenomenon that tilts the odds in favor of extreme weather and climate events for certain areas.
    — Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Capture every conversation, on every channel, video, phone and in person, because a curve built on a lopsided sample tilts every conclusion that follows.
    — Devang Agrawal, Forbes.com, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of tilts
Noun
  • His high-fashion clowns, bears and other quirks always deliver.
    — Tonya Blazio-Licorish, Footwear News, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The gasoline shortage has become such a feature of daily life that even clowns at Moscow’s circus have cracked jokes about it.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of clowns
Verb
  • Adapting to the 20,000-seat Garden, Styles’s stage is a more streamlined semi-circle that still angles for maximum access, plus a little pop.
    — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Outdoor curtains lend some privacy while providing a bit of shade when the sun angles in at sunrise and sunset.
    — Wendy Rose Gould, Martha Stewart, 23 June 2026
Definition of angles
Noun
  • Officials say the last animal confirmed to have rabies that wasn’t a bat was a skunk infected with the bat strain of rabies in Long Beach in 2014.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
  • And coyotes regulate populations of mesocarnivores like skunks and raccoons, helping support the survival of ground-nesting birds.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of skunks
Noun
  • Three of those species are venomous, including the northern copperhead, which Ballard said are among the hardest venomous snakes to find in Southern Illinois.
    — Noel Brennan, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Over a 13-month period that included the COVID-19 shutdown, the study identified 232 animal carcasses along the route, including bighorn sheep, mountain lions, squirrels and snakes.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of snakes

Phrases Containing heels

Browse Nearby Words

heeling
heels
heft
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Heels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heels. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of jilt

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All