a person or thing that is heavier than average a professional boxer weighing more than 175 pounds (79 kg) an amateur boxer weighing more than 81 kg (179 pounds) (as modifier): the world heavyweight championship a wrestler in a similar weight category (usually over 214 pounds (97 kg)) an important or highly influential person
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
heav•y•weight /ˈhɛviˌweɪt/USA pronunciation
adj. [before a noun]
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- of more than average weight or thickness.
- Sport, of or relating to heavyweights:a heavyweight bout.
- very powerful or important:a team of heavyweight lawyers.
n. [countable]
- a person of more than average weight.
- Sporta boxer weighing more than 175 lb. (79.4 kg).
- a very powerful, influential, or important person, company, etc.
heav•y•weight
(hev′ē wāt′),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
- heavy in weight.
- of more than average weight or thickness:a coat of heavyweight material.
- Sportnoting or pertaining to a boxer, wrestler, etc., of the heaviest competitive class, esp. a professional boxer weighing more than 175 lb. (79.4 kg).
- Sportof or pertaining to the weight class or division of such boxers:a heavyweight bout.
- Sport(of a riding horse, esp. a hunter) able to carry up to 205 lb. (93 kg).
- designating a person, company, nation, or other entity that is extremely powerful, influential, or important:a team of heavyweight lawyers.
n.
- a person of more than average weight.
- Sporta heavyweight boxer or wrestler.
- a person, company, nation, or other entity that is powerful and influential:a price hike initiated by the heavyweights in the industry.
- heavy + weight 1850–55
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'heavyweight' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Ali
- Baer
- Bruno
- Burns
- Calzaghe
- Carpentier
- Cooper
- Corbett
- Dempsey
- Fitzsimmons
- Foreman
- Frazier
- Hudson's Bay blanket
- India chintz
- Jeffries
- Johnson
- Klitschko
- Lewis
- Liston
- Marciano
- Muhammad Ali
- Patterson
- Schmeling
- Sullivan
- Tunney
- Walcott
- Willard
- buffalo cloth
- champion
- claim
- crepon
- cruiser
- cruiserweight
- division
- heavy
- light heavyweight
- louis
- mid-heavyweight
- middleweight
- pack
- welterweight
- white hope