hew

verb

ˈhyü How to pronounce hew (audio)
Definition of hewnext
1
as in to mow
to bring down by cutting laboriously hewed trees to build their rude log cabins

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in to adhere
to hold to something firmly as if by adhesion decided to hew to the original plan rather than change everything

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hew Cornyn would hew closely to the president for the first 16 months of his second administration, hoping at the outside chance of his endorsement or to keeping him from weighing in at all. — Thomas Beaumont, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2026 And unlike policies like Universal Basic Income, this strategy hews more closely to American values. — Gene Sperling, Time, 1 July 2026 Today that album scans as an interesting but uneven experiment; the music Shook is releasing under their own name hews much closer to the Lucinda-fronting-the-Replacements sound of the Disarmers. — Brad Sanders, Pitchfork, 26 June 2026 SpaceX is, however, facing competition from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which is building a lander hat hews much closer to the simpler, Apollo-era lunar landers than the gargantuan, engineering quagmire that is Starship. — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 12 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for hew
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hew
  1. mow
  2. adhere
  3. fell
  4. stick
  5. cling
Verb
  • Residents, meanwhile, can help the town’s efforts by reducing standing water around their homes, keeping their lawns mowed and trimmed, keeping rain barrels covered or screened, and cleaning their gutters regularly to prevent accumulated water.
    — Michelle L. Quinn, Chicago Tribune, 29 June 2026
  • Raise mowing height during dry spells to promote deeper roots and conserve soil moisture.
    — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 29 June 2026
Definition of mow
Verb
  • But a new fastest time from UAE’s Florian Vermeersch on June 2 of this year — 23km at an average speed of 75kmh — suggests that not everyone has adhered.
    — Chris Marshall-Bell, New York Times, 29 June 2026
  • Decorating rules can be helpful guidelines, but adhering too strictly to conventional wisdom can seriously cramp your style.
    — Kristin Hohenadel, The Spruce, 23 June 2026
Definition of adhere
Verb
  • That the forest below has not been felled but has swelled, along with its creatures, is hugely the work of Dharana’s owners, the de Souza family.
    — Horatio Clare, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 June 2026
  • The most dangerous situation appeared to be on Barrington Avenue, west of East Dundee Village Hall, where a light, a utility pole and part of a parkway tree were felled by strong winds, leaving power lines dangling across the road.
    — Mike Danahey, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026
Definition of fell
Verb
  • Their families clung to the shade of the trees on either side, where one woman had two American flags stuck through her ponytail.
    — Jesse Bedayn, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026
  • That level of output convinced Vogt to stick him in the leadoff spot a little more than three weeks into his career and not look back.
    — Zack Meisel, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of stick
Verb
  • While Top Gun had Cruise daringly fly and pilot fighter planes, Rogue Nation saw the actor cling onto one from the outside!
    — Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 3 July 2026
  • Washing blueberries removes dirt and toxins that may cling to the fruit during handling and transporting from farm to store.
    — Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart, 3 July 2026
Definition of cling

Phrases Containing hew

Browse Nearby Words

het up
hew
hewed
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Hew.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hew. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on hew

Nglish: Translation of hew for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All