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.

  1. Debbie took on some harsh new workouts to improve her conditioning.

  2. On her run home, Debbie she stopped for some herbal tea and a scone.

  3. Debbie got through her work week and settled in for her hebdomadal cheat day.

  4. She enjoyed her day off dieting, enjoying homemade brownies and some wine.

  5. Starting from that natural high, she felt mentally and physically healthy going into the next week.

  6. Monday arrived with its usual troubles, including a frustrating conversation with a hostile customer.

  7. She went home happy, however, thanks to some hilarious jokes from a coworker.

  8. She limbered up with some horizontal stretches before going on her evening run.

  9. The rhythm of the air conditioner was almost hypnotic as she returned home.

  10. 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 HAdjectives That Start with H

Matt Salter

B.A. English & Theatre

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