heading

The word “heading” means the title or short label at the top of a document, chapter, or section. In plain terms, either a title above a piece of text, or the compass direction something is moving in.

“Heading” is pronounced HEH-dihng (/ˈhɛdɪŋ/ in IPA).

Here is “heading” used in a sentence: “Each chapter opens with a bold heading summarizing its content.”

“Heading” is a noun.

“Heading” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Heading” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the title or short label at the top of a document, chapter, or section.

A title is the single name of a whole work — a book, report, or article. A heading is a label for a section within that work, marking where a new part begins. So a document has one title but may contain many headings, which guide the reader through the structure beneath the overall title.

A heading introduces a main section, while a subheading sits beneath it to label a smaller part within that section. Subheadings create a hierarchy: the heading is the broader topic and the subheadings break it into sub-topics. In formatting, headings are usually larger or bolder than the subheadings under them.

Headings break text into clear sections, making a document easier to scan and navigate. They signal what each part covers, help readers find information quickly, and reveal the overall structure at a glance. In digital writing they also aid accessibility and search, since screen readers and web crawlers rely on them to understand a page.

In a report, words like 'Introduction', 'Methods', 'Results', and 'Conclusion' are headings. In this dictionary, the word being defined acts as a heading. On a web page, a bold line such as 'Frequently Asked Questions' above a block of text is a heading that tells you what follows below it.