HQ stands for “headquarters,” the main office or center of control for an organization. A company's HQ is where its top leaders work and make important decisions. The military uses HQ for the command center where generals plan operations. A political campaign might set up its HQ in a busy office downtown where volunteers make phone calls and coordinate events.

The letters HQ appear in all kinds of contexts. A business might say “Contact HQ for approval” when a local store needs permission for something unusual. In video games, players often need to return to HQ between missions to get new assignments or upgrade their equipment. A superhero's secret HQ might be hidden in a cave or skyscraper.

The term suggests a place of central importance and authority. While a company might have offices in dozens of cities, only one location is the HQ, where the chief executives work and the biggest decisions happen. Think of it like the district office in a school district: individual schools have their own offices, but the superintendent works at the district HQ.