High

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Pronunciation: /haɪ/

Definitions

1. Having a large distance from bottom to top or from base to peak ; being intense or extreme in amount or level ; holding a superior rank or position within a group ; experiencing a sensation of euphoria or intoxication, often from drugs
2. Situated far above the ground or sea level ; exhibiting a strong or powerful degree of something ; belonging to a class of importance or influence ; feeling altered mentally due to substance use
3. Extending upward to a significant altitude ; marked by a great extent or intensity ; associated with elite or prestigious status ; under the influence of drugs causing an altered state

Etymology: Old English "hēah" meant more than physical height. Its range of senses, listed in the sources, included "high-class," "exalted," "sublime," "proud," and "haughty," alongside the spatial "tall" and "lofty." The word belongs to a family that spread across the Germanic languages: Dutch "hoog," German "hoch," Swedish "hög," and Gothic "hauhs" all share it, along with Scots "heich" and West Frisian "heech." Its deeper ancestry is less obvious. The Proto-Indo-European root "*kewk-" meant "to bend" or "crooked," so the earliest sense of the word may have been something curved or arched rather than simply high. Some scholars link it to words for "hook" and "peak," though these connections belong to the wider family rather than to English alone. Notably, "high" also has a near-homophone in English that came from a different source: the verb "hie," meaning to hurry, is a separate word whose Old English forms were unrelated. Speakers have sometimes confused the two over the centuries, but they did not begin as one word.

Synonyms: tall, elevated, lofty, towering, steep

Antonyms: low, short, flat, diminutive, below