hellish

adjective

hell·​ish ˈhe-lish How to pronounce hellish (audio)
: 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 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 Therefore, a compass on the hellish planet would be as useless as one on the Moon. Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 21 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

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Cite this Entry

“Hellish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hellish. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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