hellish

adjective

hell·​ish ˈhe-lish How to pronounce hellish (audio)
Synonyms of hellishnext
: of, resembling, or befitting hell
broadly : terrible
hellishly adverb
hellishness noun

Examples of hellish in a Sentence

We've been having hellish weather lately. The battlefield was a hellish scene of death and destruction.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But after a hellish helicopter mission and another spicy roundtable, Brit couldn’t convince Dolores, Ivar and Gabby that Dylan was the one to take a shot at, and she was forced out of the game without revealing her true identity. — Nick Caruso, TVLine, 7 Mar. 2025 But its counterpart, which treats the battle from the perspective of the Japanese forces, is even more remarkable, capturing the hellish conditions in which the soldiers fought and the unforgiving ideology that brought them to the battlefield in the first place. — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 3 Mar. 2025 Inch-high avatars stand to scale in lush 3D sets of magical forests, hellish underworlds, even high schools. — Eric Francisco, Rolling Stone, 1 Mar. 2025 Three years ago today, Russia launched its hellish full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an unprovoked assault that has killed and injured more than 40,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the UN. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 24 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hellish

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1530, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hellish was circa 1530

Rhymes for hellish

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hellish
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Cite this Entry

“Hellish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hellish. Accessed 22 Mar. 2025.

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Kids Definition

hellish

adjective
hell·​ish ˈhel-ish How to pronounce hellish (audio)
: of, resembling, or suitable to hell : infernal
hellishly adverb
hellishness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on hellish

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for hellish

Nglish: Translation of hellish for Spanish Speakers

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