Vocabulary builder H

habitable	adj.	Fit to be dwelt in.
habitant	n.	Dweller.
habitual	adj.	According to usual practice.
habitude	n.	Customary relation or association.
hackney	v.	To make stale or trite by repetition.
haggard	adj.	Worn and gaunt in appearance.
halcyon	adj.	Calm.
hale	adj.	Of sound and vigorous health.
handwriting	n.	Penmanship.
hanger-on	n.	A parasite.
happy-go-lucky	adj.	Improvident.
harangue	n.	A tirade.
harass	v.	To trouble with importunities, cares, or annoyances.
harbinger	n.	One who or that which foreruns and announces the coming of any person or thing.
hard-hearted	adj.	Lacking pity or sympathy.
hardihood	n.	Foolish daring.
harmonious	adj.	Concordant in sound.
havoc	n.	Devastation.
hawthorn	n.	A thorny shrub much used in England for hedges.
hazard	n.	Risk.
head	first	adv. Precipitately, as in diving.
head	foremost	adv. Precipitately, as in diving.
heartrending	adj.	Very depressing.
heathenish	adj.	Irreligious.
heedless	adj.	Thoughtless.
heifer	n.	A young cow.
heinous	adj.	Odiously sinful.
hemorrhage	n.	Discharge of blood from a ruptured or wounded blood-vessel.
hemorrhoids	n.	pl. Tumors composed of enlarged and thickened blood-vessels, at the lower end of the rectum.
henchman	n.	A servile assistant and subordinate.
henpeck	v.	To worry or harass by ill temper and petty annoyances.
heptagon	n.	A figure having seven sides and seven angles.
heptarchy	n.	A group of seven governments.
herbaceous	adj.	Having the character of a herb.
herbarium	n.	A collection of dried plants scientifically arranged for study.
herbivorous	adj.	Feeding on herbs or other vegetable matter, as animals.
hereditary	adj.	Passing naturally from parent to child.
heredity	n.	Transmission of physical or mental qualities, diseases, etc., from parent to offspring.
heresy	n.	An opinion or doctrine subversive of settled beliefs or accepted principles.
heretic	n.	One who holds opinions contrary to the recognized standards or tenets of any philosophy.
heritage	n.	Birthright.
hernia	n.	Protrusion of any internal organ in whole or in part from its normal position.
hesitancy	n.	A pausing to consider.
hesitant	adj.	Vacillating.
hesitation	n.	Vacillation.
heterodox	adj.	At variance with any commonly accepted doctrine or opinion.
heterogeneity	n.	Unlikeness of constituent parts.
heterogeneous	adj.	Consisting of dissimilar elements or ingredients of different kinds.
heteromorphic	adj.	Deviating from the normal form or standard type.
hexangular	adj.	Having six angles.
hexapod	adj.	Having six feet.
hexagon	n.	A figure with six angles.
hiatus	n.	A break or vacancy where something necessary to supply the connection is wanting.
hibernal	adj.	Pertaining to winter.
Hibernian	adj.	Pertaining to Ireland, or its people.
hideous	adj.	Appalling.
hilarious	adj.	Boisterously merry.
hillock	n.	A small hill or mound.
hinder	v.	To obstruct.
hindmost	adj.	Farthest from the front.
hindrance	n.	An obstacle.
hirsute	adj.	Having a hairy covering.
hoard	v.	To gather and store away for the sake of accumulation.
hoarse	adj.	Having the voice harsh or rough, as from a cold or fatigue.
homage	n.	Reverential regard or worship.
homogeneity	n.	Congruity of the members or elements or parts.
homogeneous	adj.	Made up of similar parts or elements.
homologous	adj.	Identical in nature, make-up, or relation.
homonym	n.	A word agreeing in sound with but different in meaning from another.
homophone	n.	A word agreeing in sound with but different in meaning from another.
honorarium	n.	A token fee or payment to a professional man for services.
hoodwink	v.	To deceive.
horde	n.	A gathered multitude of human beings.
hosiery	n.	A stocking.
hospitable	adj.	Disposed to treat strangers or guests with generous kindness.
hospitality	n.	The practice of receiving and entertaining strangers and guests with kindness.
hostility	n.	Enmity.
huckster	n.	One who retails small wares.
humane	adj.	Compassionate.
humanitarian	n.	A philanthropist.
humanize	v.	To make gentle or refined.
humbug	n.	Anything intended or calculated to deceive or mislead.
humiliate	v.	To put to shame.
hussar	n.	A light-horse trooper armed with saber and carbine.
hustle	v.	To move with haste and promptness.
hybrid	adj.	Cross-bred.
hydra	n.	The seven- or nine-headed water-serpent slain by Hercules.
hydraulic	adj.	Involving the moving of water, of the force exerted by water in motion.
hydrodynamics	n.	The branch of mechanics that treats of the dynamics of fluids.
hydroelectric	adj.	Pertaining to electricity developed water or steam.
hydromechanics	n.	The mechanics of fluids.
hydrometer	n.	An instrument for determining the density of solids and liquids by flotation.
hydrostatics	n.	The branch of science that treats of the pressure and equilibrium of fluids.
hydrous	adj.	Watery.
hygiene	n.	The branch of medical science that relates to improving health.
hypercritical	adj.	Faultfinding.
hypnosis	n.	An artificial trance-sleep.
hypnotic	adj.	Tending to produce sleep.
hypnotism	n.	An artificially induced somnambulistic state in which the mind readily acts on suggestion.
hypnotize	v.	To produce a somnambulistic state in which the mind readily acts on suggestions.
hypocrisy	n.	Extreme insincerity.
hypocrite	n.	One who makes false professions of his views or beliefs.
hypodermic	adj.	Pertaining to the area under the skin.
hypotenuse	n.	The side of a right-angled triangle opposite the right angle.
hypothesis	n.	A proposition taken for granted as a premise from which to reach a conclusion.
hysteria	n.	A nervous affection occurring typically in paroxysms of laughing and crying.