heaviness
/ˈhɛvɪnəs
/noun [mass noun]
1The quality of having great weight: Olivia felt the heaviness of her backpack...
- I didn't feel the heaviness of my gown as I rose to the surface.
- He felt the heaviness of a sword at his side.
- Participants of the study described the physical pain of not being able to lift one foot after another up a flight of stairs due to the heaviness of shoes.
1.1A feeling of being weighed down, especially by weariness: a persistent feeling of lethargy and heaviness a sudden heaviness overpowers me...
- Try to walk a mile or climb a few flights of stairs without becoming winded or feeling heaviness or fatigue in your legs
- Having broken the chains that were being prepared for them, they feel the heaviness of fatigue.
- Excessive damp causes heaviness and tiredness of the body.
2Great density or thickness: the heaviness of the paint...
- The heaviness of the polar bear's coat follows directly from those properties and laws that make it warm.
- In practical symbolism the fixed element of water is used to represent long-accumulated sediment, water trapped by the coldness of ice or the heaviness of mud.
- She kept up her bombardment of questions except when she interrupted herself to introduce me to somebody or pass comment on a hairstyle, or the heaviness of someone's makeup.
2.1Lack of delicacy or grace; coarseness: a certain heaviness of style...
- They move with the malign heaviness of natural predators.
- His heaviness of foot does not help his delivery.
- Her female figures exhibit a rough finish and heaviness of form not evident in her earlier works.
2.2The quality of food being hard to digest: a vanilla ice cream that is unmistakably English in its heaviness and extreme creaminess...
- You don't want to feel that heaviness when you eat food.
- I'm too full of the warmth of the central heating, the heaviness of mince pies, and the glow of yet another Christmas drink.
- The cloying heaviness of snacking on cheese instead of ginger snaps left me feeling dull and vaguely nauseous.
3A state of being greater in amount, force, or intensity than usual: the heaviness of the rains in the valley caused flooding the heaviness of their earlier defeat...
- The downpour's heaviness gentles the wind.
- The heaviness of the punctuation gives you the sense of the pause.
- The heaviness of the rain eventually reaches a point though where there is no point in worrying about how hard it's raining.
3.1The quality of being oppressive or overpowering to the senses: the heaviness of a hop aroma the heaviness of the dark wood panelling...
- I felt the heaviness of the heat as we came out of the palace.
- As I strolled home along the crooked relief of my Brooklyn sidewalk, I felt the heaviness in the air.
- I remember the heaviness of too many blankets.
3.2(In relation to rock music) the quality of having a strong bass component and a forceful rhythm: the total heaviness of much of this record...
- He makes a fine job of translating the sheer heaviness of the band onto CD.
- The opening song sets the perfect tone for the whole album, combining sheer heaviness and technicality with a towering chorus that utilizes the full range of her voice.
- We wanted to find melodies and rhythms that retained the heaviness and distortion of hard rock, while leaving space for melodic sensitivity and complex time signatures.
4The quality of being very important or serious: a few cartoon gags were introduced into the film to lighten its heaviness...
- We feel the heaviness of our problems begin to shrink or dissolve, until we reach a state where we are on top of our life rather than buried by it.
- After the heaviness and bitterness of much of his 90s output, this kind of innocence is a welcome relief.
- While I marvel at this book's heaviness and complexity, I too am a product of the disillusion climate, and I can't pipe down when I feel I'm being oppressed.
4.1A mentally oppressive feeling, especially of sadness or grief: he felt the heaviness of loss as he watched her go heaviness of heart...
- When it did start, I felt a heaviness in my heart because I knew that people would be dying.
- Darcy felt the heaviness of loss settle into his soul as he watched her go.
- When you're depressed, you feel heaviness in the heart.