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headfirst

adverbC12 meaningsVery rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans spoken

Headfirst means diving with the top of you leading the way. Also, rushing into something without looking.

The physical sense covers diving, falling and going down a slide, and going headfirst into water is genuinely dangerous where the depth is unknown. The figurative sense is about impetuousness, since going headfirst into a project means starting before thinking. British English also writes headlong, which carries the same double meaning. It works as an adverb and, before a noun, as an adjective.

Definitions of headfirst

  1. 1adverbheadfirstWith the head leading the way.C1

    “He went headfirst over the handlebars.”

  2. 2adverbthinkingWithout thinking or hesitating.C1

    “She went headfirst into the new job.”

Also accepted in games: headlong

Where it comes from

From head + first.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 10 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word