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say it: hi-ROH-ik
heroic is an adjective and noun meaning "very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)". It carries 6 recorded senses.
very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)
“an epic voyage”
“of heroic proportions”
“heroic sculpture”
relating to or characteristic of heroes of antiquity
“heroic legends”
“the heroic age”
having or displaying qualities appropriate for heroes
“the heroic attack on the beaches of Normandy”
“heroic explorers”
of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope
“an expansive lifestyle”
“in the grand manner”
“collecting on a grand scale”
“heroic undertakings”
showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort
“made a last desperate attempt to reach the climber”
“the desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war”
“they took heroic measures to save his life”
a verse form suited to the treatment of heroic or elevated themes; dactylic hexameter or iambic pentameter
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for heroic come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.