different between gruesome vs heinous

English

Etymology

From grue (“to shudder”) +? -some. Compare Danish and Norwegian grusom (“horrible”), German grausam (“cruel”), and Dutch gruwzaam (“gruesome; cruel”).

Adjective

gruesome (comparative gruesomer or more gruesome, superlative gruesomest or most gruesome)

1. Repellently frightful and shocking; horrific or ghastly.
   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 6

     In the middle of the floor lay a skeleton, every vestige of flesh gone from the bones to which still clung the mildewed and moldered remnants of what had once been clothing. Upon the bed lay a similar gruesome thing, but smaller, while in a tiny cradle near-by was a third, a wee mite of a skeleton.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Old French haïneus (compare French haineux) from haïr (“to hate”), hadir (“to hate”) (compare Old French enhadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hattjan (“to hate”)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?he?n?s/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?hi?n?s/
• Rhymes: -e?n?s

Adjective

heinous (comparative more heinous, superlative most heinous)

1. Totally reprehensible.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "heinous" is often applied: crime, act, sin, murder, offence.

Synonyms

• (totally reprehensible): abominable, horrible, odious

Antonyms

• unheinous (rare)

Derived terms

• unheinous
• heinous crime

Translations

Anagrams

• in house, in-house, inhouse