Adjectives That Start with H

The letter H is a pretty interesting letter of the alphabet. It takes on its usual "huh" sound in adjectives such as happy or heroic. When placed beside certain letters, it changes to a softer sound, as in "chew" or "share." In some cases, H is entirely silent, as in honored or honest. Pretty powerful for one little letter, right?

So, for adjectives that start with "h," we hope you're ready to discover some new highlights. You'd never guess there were so many but, once you've learned them, you'll never look back. Our list of adjectives that start with "h" will launch you into a whole new stratosphere way beyond such commoners as hot and high.

50 Adjectives That Start with H

Here follow 50 adjectives, complete with definitions from our dictionary and a list of synonyms courtesy of our thesaurus. We picked all 50 because they're commonly used and relevant to everyday conversation and writing.

Adjective	Definition	Synonym
hackneyed	something overused or trite	cliche, meme, overdone, stale
halcyon	peaceful or restful, especially of weather	calm, idyllic, soothing, soporific
hallowed	considered holy or sacred	blessed, consecrated, sacrosanct, sanctified
hands-on	taking an active role, being involved in a situation	active, involved, proactive, tangible
handy	capable or skilled at a given task	able, dextrous, skillful, useful
happy	in high spirits; satisfied	cheerful, delighted, glad, pleased
hard	something firm in texture; by extension, demanding or unforgiving	arduous, laborious, onerous, rigid
harmful	something that does damage or injury	adverse, hazardous, hurtful, pernicious
harsh	caustic or unpleasant to experience	acrimonious, coarse, disagreeable, severe
hazardous	creating a dangerous or undesirable circumstance	dicey, perilous, risky, unsafe
healthy	having good health; possessing wellness	hale, hearty, sound, trim
heavenly	having to do with paradise; by extension, something pleasant or joyful	celestial, divine, lovely, sublime
heavy	of great weight; by extension, difficult or depressed	arduous, cumbersome, ponderous, weighty
hebdomadal	occurring every seven days	heptad, septad, septal, weekly
hebephrenic	(obsolete) schizophrenic or having schizophrenic symptoms	delusional, hallucinatory, mad, insane,
hebetudinous	the state of being dull	dozy, dreamy, lethargic, sleepy
hedonistic	characterized by pleasure-seeking, being self- indulgent	epicurean, sybaritic, voluptuary, voluptuous
hegemonic	wielding power, in charge	controlling, despotic, dominant, ruling
heinous	something frightening or disturbing	cruel, dreadful, terrifying, warped
helpful	something beneficial, characterized by improving a situation	advantageous, constructive, supportive, useful
herbal	having to do with herbs, leafy plants with various culinary and medicinal applications	herbaceous, grassy, verdant, vegetal
heteroclite	outside normal behavior	abnormal, eccentric, peculiar, unusual
heuristic	of answering questions, to use both empirical and non-empirical methods	interrogative, intuitive, investigative, speculative
high	raised vertically	elevated, lofty, soaring, towering
high-quality	having good characteristics, desirable	excellent, impressive, valuable, valued
hilarious	characterized by being funny, causing laughter	comical, humorous, jocular, ludicrous
hircine	resembling a goat	caprine
historic	momentous, having to do with an important moment in history	meaningful, powerful, relevant, significant
historical	something of significance that actually happened	actual, ancient, chronicled, past
histrionic	something theatrical or overdramatic	dramatic, melodramatic, pantomime, stagy
holistic	having to do with the whole system, rather than any one part	aggregate, comprehensive, entire, integrated
holy	something considered sacred by one or more religions	blessed, hallowed, revered, sacrosanct
homeless	displaced, without a home	drifting, indigent, mendicant, needy
homemade	made at home, not purchased	handcrafted, handmade, homegrown, homespun
homochromatic	of or relating to only one color	monochrome, monocolor
honest	speaking truthfully, being sincere	candid, forthright, frank, genuine
horizontal	extending from side to side rather than up and down	decumbent, endwise, flat, recumbent
horrible	evoking horror or disgust	abhorrent, harrowing, loathsome, vile
horrific	causing horror, disturbing	chilling, dreadful, frightening, terrifying
hortative	relating to speech that encourages action	declamatory, encouraging, exhorting, urging
hostile	something violently opposed to something else	antagonistic, averse, inimical, truculent
hot	high in temperature, aroused in emotion	ardent, fiery, heated, warm
huge	extremely large	colossal, enormous, giant, humongous
human	of or relating to a person or people	anthropic, anthropogenic, anthropomorphic, anthropomorphous
humble	not arrogant or overconfident, meek	lowly, respectful, self-effacing, unassuming
hungry	desiring food	craving, famished, starving, unfed
hybrid	composite or mixture of two or more things	blend, cross, crossbred, mixture
hyperbolic	overstated, presented in an excessively dramatic manner	enthusiastic, excessive, hammy, overdramatic
hypersonic	greater than the speed of sound by five or more times
hypnotic	inducing sleep or lowering mental awareness	anodyne, lenitive, mesmeric, somnolent

What Is an Adjective?

Adjectives are words that modify nouns. They are one of two kinds of modifiers in English: adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, while adjectives only modify nouns. Adjectives can modify any noun, as long as it meets the "noun" definition of representing a person, place, thing or idea.

Types of Adjectives

All adjectives modify nouns. Adjectives can be further defined into three categories, depending on the way in which they modify their subject.

Demonstrative adjectives are some of the most important and widely used words in English. The answer the grammatical question "which one?" as applied to a noun. When you put words like "that" or "those" into a phrase, such as "that person" or "those cauliflowers," you are using a demonstrative adjective to answer that question.
Descriptive adjectives are the most common type of adjective. They define the specific qualities of the noun they modify. In the phrase "the herbal tea," the word "herbal" is a descriptive adjective for the type of "tea."
Quantitative adjectives are another category with only a few members but a whole lot of importance. Quantitative adjectives answer the question "how many?" By applying words like "some," "most" or "all" to nouns, as in "some voters," "most squirrels" or "all my friends" you define the amount, or quantity, of the noun is being described.

10 Example Sentences

Here we've presented 10 sentences that use our adjectives in a common setting. For more help with sentence structure, check out our sentence variety examples and articles on compound and declarative sentences.

Debbie took on some harsh new workouts to improve her conditioning.
On her run home, Debbie she stopped for some herbal tea and a scone.
Debbie got through her work week and settled in for her hebdomadal cheat day.
She enjoyed her day off dieting, enjoying homemade brownies and some wine.
Starting from that natural high, she felt mentally and physically healthy going into the next week.
Monday arrived with its usual troubles, including a frustrating conversation with a hostile customer.
She went home happy, however, thanks to some hilarious jokes from a coworker.
She limbered up with some horizontal stretches before going on her evening run.
The rhythm of the air conditioner was almost hypnotic as she returned home.
Settling into bed, Debbie drifted into a halcyon night's sleep.

H Is Handy to Have

The letter H provides a fascinating study, given its ability to affect other letters of the alphabet, stand strongly alone, or be totally silent. Whenever it's the first letter of a word, it's almost always going to take on its classic sound (save for a few silences). Are you ready to get even more interesting? Let's move on to Adjectives That Start with I. Will your impeccable memory lead to an even more incredible vocabulary?

Adjectives That Start with H

Adjectives That Start with H

50 Adjectives That Start with H

What Is an Adjective?

Types of Adjectives

10 Example Sentences

H Is Handy to Have

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