heels
- 1Shoes built with tall, raised heels under the back of the foot, lifting the wearer above flat footing.
She kicked off her heels the moment she got home from the office.
Strappy heels left her ankles aching by the end of the party.
Oppositeflats
Note
A shortening named for the part that matters, and in this meaning it is plural: she wore heels. It behaves like other paired garments (a pair of heels, those heels are new) and sits easily in lists of clothing, as in a short skirt and heels. Its usual verb is wear, and talk of it often turns on height, as in Caravan Palace's 2019 line about being taller without them.
- 2Plural of heel.
Years of barefoot running had toughened the heels of his feet.
She rubbed her sore heels after finishing the marathon.
Note
A regular plural that carries every meaning of heel at once: the backs of feet, the raised part under a shoe's sole, the back of a sock, even the base of the palm. A following phrase usually does the sorting: the heels of his feet, the heels of her socks, the heels of the hands. Without one, heels on its own tends to mean footwear, which is the high-heeled shoes.
heels is a form of heel
heel, noun: The rear end of the foot, just below and behind the ankle. Full entry
- Forms
- heelheels plural
- Spelling
- heel → heels: add -s
Use it in a sentence
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