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Definition of headhunting

headhunting

/ˈhɛdˌhʌn.tɪŋ/
head · hunt · ing
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headhunting Lexical Profile

headhunting Game Scores & Validity

• noun

1

The practice of identifying and approaching suitable candidates employed elsewhere to fill senior business or executive positions.

Example

"The firm specializes in executive headhunting for major technology companies."

2

The historical practice among certain peoples of taking and preserving the severed heads of enemies as trophies or for ritual purposes.

Example

"Anthropologists documented the decline of ritual headhunting across the archipelago during the twentieth century."

Synonyms
View all synonyms for headhunting

• Nearby Words

headguard
headhunt
headhunter
headhunting
headiness
heading
headlamp

Word Origin & Etymology

First recorded in the mid-19th century as an anthropological term for the ritual taking of human heads, the word gained its figurative corporate sense of recruiting top-tier executives in the 1960s.

Cite this Entry

Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Headhunting. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Nov 5, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/headhunting
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