heels 1 of 2

noun

plural of heel
as in dogs
a person whose behavior is offensive to others felt like a heel when she found out that she'd blamed the wrong person

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

heels

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of heel
as in slopes
to set or cause to be at an angle the strong gust heeled the sailboat almost to the point of capsizing, but we managed to right it

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of heels
Noun
Though Calvin’s children and sister Ruth (Willow Kean), who works as Snook’s Arms Harbor Master, realize there are very few resources left to hold on to, Calvin digs in his heels, determined to find a way forward. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026 The Rick Owens show included sparkling avant-garde boots with a fierce platform wedge, as well as sandals with concave wedge heels. — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 7 Oct. 2026 Fresh off the heels of Thom Browne’s New York Fashion Week presentation, where models and dancers embodied bugs and butterflies, the designer exchanged emails with Tyler Matthew Oyer about his creative process. — Tyler Matthew Oyer, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026 And the release of ML4 is also coming on the heels of another open-weight model release, Beam, from American startup Reflection. — Hadas Gold, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026 Right on the heels of OpenAI’s new large language model producing the biggest math breakthrough in two decades, the company just released no less than 372 results from the same model. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 6 Oct. 2026 To be wearing heels every single day for hours on end is not my norm. — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026 Keeley comes to walk him out of his office wearing ruby red heels. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 6 Oct. 2026 An elderly woman in a proper ink-black dress and modest, sensible heels motioned us over and led us down the aisle, inviting us to sit in the pair of waiting chairs just opposite the pulpit. — Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Verb
Savoy Brown also wore Manolo Blahnik heels with a Hanut Singh ring. — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 26 Feb. 2026 These sultry heels have a subtle pink hue like the Elisabet Tang heels, as well as eye-catching hold hardware on the back. — Jordan Julian, InStyle, 4 Feb. 2026 The action then moves to a studio where Law Roach is styling Adrina Lima who is wearing an archival Maison Margiela top with a Miss Claire Sullivan skirt and Helmut Lang heels. — Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 23 Dec. 2025 Amanu, the youngest, is the most experimental, wearing business casual ties and button downs one day and trying on a sequined dress and heels the next. — Essence, 9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for heels
  1. dogs
  2. slopes
  3. jerks
  4. tilts
  5. clowns
  6. angles
  7. skunks
  8. snakes
Noun
  • Falling behind Gavin Kenneally, whose company makes industrial and military robot dogs, is working to find a new source of rare earth metals, of which China has nearly a global monopoly.
    — Stephanie Yang, CNN Money, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Sheriff’s cadaver dogs, deputies with shovels and a backhoe were seen at work.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of dogs
Verb
  • The rest of the Cambria isn’t bad, either, including the shops and galleries along Main Street (which is deceptively long) and the piney slopes above.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026
  • In rivers and streams in Virginia and Maryland, Hack measured the length of each stream and the area of the land that slopes toward that stream and therefore drains into it, called its basin or drainage area.
    — Natalie Wolchover, Quanta Magazine, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of slopes
Noun
  • Lee and his Burning co-writer Oh Jung-mi resist what might have been the first instinct of many filmmakers by refusing to make Ye-ji and Sang-woo overly patronizing rich jerks.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026
  • The Ars OpenForum is a place for readers to ask questions, compare notes, argue (without being jerks to each other), and go down all sorts of rabbit holes.
    — Eric Bangeman, ArsTechnica, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of jerks
Verb
  • But others said the survey often tilts toward conservative candidates, which is different than the nonpartisan polls run by the three universities.
    — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 4 Oct. 2026
  • According to Song, this system captures the energy naturally generated whenever the massive pile frame lowers or tilts, converting that potential energy into recyclable electricity.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of tilts
Noun
  • The gasoline shortage has become such a feature of daily life that even clowns at Moscow’s circus have cracked jokes about it.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Because some of them are showing up to the game looking like clowns.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of clowns
Verb
  • Adapting to the 20,000-seat Garden, Styles’s stage is a more streamlined semi-circle that still angles for maximum access, plus a little pop.
    — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Outdoor curtains lend some privacy while providing a bit of shade when the sun angles in at sunrise and sunset.
    — Wendy Rose Gould, Martha Stewart, 23 June 2026
Definition of angles
Noun
  • Officials say the last animal confirmed to have rabies that wasn’t a bat was a skunk infected with the bat strain of rabies in Long Beach in 2014.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
  • And coyotes regulate populations of mesocarnivores like skunks and raccoons, helping support the survival of ground-nesting birds.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of skunks
Noun
  • SinkShroom, kitchen sink strainers, disposable drain covers and snakes for a complete refresh.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Perhaps the most striking styles in the lineup stood on curvaceous, sculptural heels resembling slithering snakes.
    — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of snakes

Phrases Containing heels

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heels
heft
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Cite this Entry

“Heels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/heels. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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