"the heck" meaning in English

See the heck in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the heck.wav
Head templates: {{head|en|adverb}} the heck
  1. (euphemistic) Used for emphasis after an interrogative word. Tags: euphemistic
    Sense id: en-the_heck-en-adv-nAjFJqKP Categories (other): English euphemisms
  2. (euphemistic) Intensifies a phrasal verb; goes between the base verb and its modifier. Tags: euphemistic
    Sense id: en-the_heck-en-adv-3v6fkbXs Categories (other): English euphemisms, English entries with incorrect language header, English intensifiers, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 72 Disambiguation of English intensifiers: 22 78 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 20 80 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 11 89
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: the dickens Related terms: flipping heck, Synonyms of hell
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "adverb"
      },
      "expansion": "the heck",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "flipping heck"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "Synonyms of hell"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "What the heck are you doing?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used for emphasis after an interrogative word."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_heck-en-adv-nAjFJqKP",
      "links": [
        [
          "emphasis",
          "emphasis"
        ],
        [
          "interrogative",
          "interrogative"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic) Used for emphasis after an interrogative word."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 72",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English intensifiers",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Elevators make me throw the heck up.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Intensifies a phrasal verb; goes between the base verb and its modifier."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_heck-en-adv-3v6fkbXs",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic) Intensifies a phrasal verb; goes between the base verb and its modifier."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the heck.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "48 52",
      "word": "the dickens"
    }
  ],
  "word": "the heck"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adverbs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English intensifiers",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "adverb"
      },
      "expansion": "the heck",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "flipping heck"
    },
    {
      "word": "Synonyms of hell"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English euphemisms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "What the heck are you doing?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used for emphasis after an interrogative word."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "emphasis",
          "emphasis"
        ],
        [
          "interrogative",
          "interrogative"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic) Used for emphasis after an interrogative word."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English euphemisms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Elevators make me throw the heck up.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Intensifies a phrasal verb; goes between the base verb and its modifier."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic) Intensifies a phrasal verb; goes between the base verb and its modifier."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "euphemistic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-the heck.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-the_heck.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "the dickens"
    }
  ],
  "word": "the heck"
}

Download raw JSONL data for the heck meaning in English (1.7kB)

{
  "called_from": "page/2517",
  "msg": "UNIMPLEMENTED parse_translation_template: l {1: 'en', 2: 'on earth'}",
  "path": [
    "the heck",
    "l"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "adverb",
  "title": "the heck",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.