From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishheinoushei‧nous /ˈheɪnəs/ adjective formal 1 SHOCKBAD BEHAVIOUR OR ACTIONSvery shocking and immoral a heinous crime2 American English spoken informal extremely bad The food in the cafeteria is pretty heinous. —heinousness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
heinous• For agents, the new concern is that the heinous activity may be directed at them.• What purpose is served by such senseless and heinous acts?• The argument of all crackdown law is that it applies special, draconian measures to tackle some heinous crime.• We not only face the heinous crimes dead on, we face our fellow viewers.• The way he had misled her, Blanche thought, was heinous enough if his loyalty had lain with the same country.• Gough has not committed a heinous sin in Kurunegala.heinous crime• For Mankins, seeing Harris die was simple retribution for a heinous crime.• The argument of all crackdown law is that it applies special, draconian measures to tackle some heinous crime.• We not only face the heinous crimes dead on, we face our fellow viewers.Origin heinous (1300-1400) Old French haineus, from haine “hate” 