make heavy weather of something Definition

heavy
adj heavier, heaviest

1. Having great weight.
2. Said of breathing: loud, because of excitement, exhaustion, etc.
3. Great in amount, size, power, etc.

Example: heavy traffic
Example: a heavy crop
Thesaurus: weighty, considerable, ample, copious, cumbersome, unwieldy, dense, laden; portly, stout, corpulent, beefy (slang), chunky (slang); Antonym: light, buoyant.
4. Great in amount, frequency, etc.

Example: a heavy drinker
5. Considerable.

Example: heavy emphasis
6. Hard to bear, endure or fulfil.

Example: a heavy fate
Thesaurus: oppressive, burdensome, onerous, vexatious, hard, arduous, taxing, exhausting.
7. Ungraceful and coarse.

Example: heavy features
8. Severe, intense or excessive.

Example: heavy fighting
9. Sad or dejected.

Example: with a heavy heart
Example: heavy-hearted
Thesaurus: sad, discouraged, downcast, forlorn, glum, heartsick, miserable, morose, mournful, sorrowful.
10. Said of food: difficult to digest.

Example: a heavy meal
11. Having a great or relatively high density. Compare heavy metal.

Example: a heavy metal
12. Striking or falling with force; powerful.

Example: heavy rain
13. Forceful or powerful.

Example: a heavy sea
14. Intense or deep.

Example: a heavy sleep
15. Said of the sky: dark and cloudy.
16. Needing a lot of physical or mental effort.
17a. Said of literature, music, etc: serious in tone and content;

Thesaurus: grave, serious, solemn, dull, depressing, melancholy; Antonym: trivial, light.
17b. Said of literature, music, etc: not immediately accessible or appealing.

Thesaurus: complex, difficult, dense, hard-going.
18. Physically and mentally slow.
19. Fat; solid.
20. Said of soil: wet and soft due to its high clay content.
21. colloq
Strict; severe.
Example: Don't be heavy on him
22a. military.
Equipped with powerful weapons, armour, etc;
22b. military.
Said of guns: large and powerful.
23. Said of cakes and bread: dense through not having risen enough.

noun heavies

1. slang
A large, violent and usually not very intelligent man.
Example: They sent in the heavies
2. A villain in a play, film, etc.
(Scots)
3. A beer like bitter but darker in colour and gassier.
4. Serious newspapers.

Form: the heavies (usually)

adverb

1. Heavily.

Example: Time hangs heavy on my hands
2. With a heavy burden.

Example: heavy-laden

Derivative: heavily

In a heavy way; with or as if with weight.
Thesaurus: awkwardly, ponderously, laboriously; Antonym: easily, gently, lightly.

Intensely, severely or violently.
Thesaurus: considerably, decisively, thoroughly, massively, strongly, profoundly.

Derivative: heaviness
noun

The state of being very heavy or bulky
Thesaurus: weightiness, heftiness, ponderousness, gravity, bulkiness; ballast, burden.

noun

Sadness or dejection
Thesaurus: oppression, despondency, languor, melancholy, numbness, somnolence, torpor; Antonym: sprightliness, liveliness.

Idiom: make heavy weather of something

To experience great difficulty in doing something, or exaggerate the difficulties involved in it.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon hefig.

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weather
noun

1. The atmospheric conditions in any area at any time, with regard to sun, cloud, temperature, wind and rain, etc.

Thesaurus: climate, temperature, conditions, rainfall.

adj

1. especially naut.
On the side exposed to the wind.

verb weathered, weathering

tr & intr
1. To expose or be exposed to the effects of wind, Sun and rain, etc; to alter or be altered in colour, texture and shape, etc through such exposure.

Thesaurus: expose, harden, petrify, patinate, dry, bleach, blanch, whiten, tan, burn.
2. To come safely through (a storm or difficult situation).

Thesaurus: overcome, endure, stand up against, bear the brunt of; fall victim to.
3. naut.
To get to the windward side of (a headland, etc).
4. archit.
To set or slope (a roof or surface, etc) to keep the rain out.

Derivative: weathered
adj

Idiom: keep a weather eye open

To keep alert for developments.

Idiom: make heavy weather of something

To make its progress unnecessarily slow and difficult.

Idiom: under the weather

colloq
Not in good health; slightly unwell.
Thesaurus: sick, ailing, ill, indisposed.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon weder.