hellhole

noun

hell·​hole ˈhel-ˌhōl How to pronounce hellhole (audio)
: a place of extreme misery or squalor

Examples of hellhole in a Sentence

The factory is a hellhole. his first apartment was a hellhole in an unsafe neighborhood
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.
Far from being the hellholes that Trump and his minions constantly depict, cities such as New York and Boston and Seattle are already desirable places to live—witness their housing pressures. Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025 Who wants to work to separate family members from each other or put people in a hellhole in the Everglades? Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2025 The place where Dante cast endless sinners, upside down in hellholes of their own carving, or in the tangled forest of suicides, or with the fratricides in the ninth circle, all of them eternally condemned. Literary Hub, 11 June 2025 The basics remain the same: Four players take control of survivors attempting to escape a dingy hellhole, while a fifth takes the role of a roaming psychopath trying to kill them. Luke Winkie, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hellhole

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hellhole was in 1850

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hellhole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hellhole. Accessed 10 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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