: stubbornly and often recklessly determined or intent
hell-bent on winning
hell-bent adverb

Examples of hell-bent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But the foundation appears to be consistent with Musk’s general disdain toward non-profit work, giving ammo to his detractors who see him as less of a visionary and more of a trolling profiteer hell-bent on acquiring power. Allison Morrow, CNN, 12 Mar. 2024 The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has been hell-bent in pursuing its virtue-signaling decades-long experiment with global climate leadership. Tilak Doshi, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 But nobody's hell-bent on doing this in the Republican Party. Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 16 Feb. 2024 In a gripping race against time, Pattinson shines as a bank robber hell-bent on saving his brother, all set against the gritty backdrop of New York City and brought to life by the Safdie brothers' signature intense narrative style, aka post-cinema. Travis Bean, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024 Both Adam Clay and John Wick are retired from elite secret assassin organizations and are hell-bent on revenge. William Earl, Variety, 11 Jan. 2024 Many workers are hell-bent on leaving the office once their workday ends, and couldn’t even be convinced to attend their annual office holiday parties last month. Paige McGlauflin, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2024 Swift, who has publicly aligned herself with the pro-choice movement and declared her opposition to former President Donald Trump, has become the ire of a vocal group of conservatives hell-bent on the bizarre notion that the singer is a political weapon aimed at the upcoming presidential election. Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 7 Dec. 2023 The Trilogy tour, in all, was a dizzying, unstoppable force, a celebration of three Latin icons who are hell-bent on getting your hips moving and your throat hoarse from screaming. Alex Zaragoza, Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hell-bent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1731, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hell-bent was in 1731

Dictionary Entries Near hell-bent

Cite this Entry

“Hell-bent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hell-bent. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

hell-bent

adjective
-ˌbent
: stubbornly and often recklessly determined
hell-bent on revenge

More from Merriam-Webster on hell-bent

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