headlong.

1. Quickly and with little care for danger or consequences.

2. With the head or front part leading the movement.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• rush headlong
• plunge headlong into

On the page

The investigation plunged headlong into speculation before the samples arrived.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Invariable adverb; adjective use normally non-gradable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, character. Commonness: moderately common.