hellscape

noun

hell·​scape ˈhel-ˌskāp 

plural hellscapes

: a hellish landscape : a harshly unpleasant place or environment

I blame growing up in Southern California—this did not prepare me for real winter, much less the frigid hellscape that is New York in January.

—Aliza Arbabanel

Meanwhile, it's heartbreaking to see Route 33, once called out by Jalopnik as "America's greatest driving road," reduced to this horrifying hellscape. And, of course, to think about all the nearby people and animals and communities being inundated with fire and smoke.

—Andrew P. Collins

Examples of hellscape in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This week, the remnants of Hurricane Helene turned this slice of heaven into a hellscape. —Steve Hartman, CBS News, 4 Oct. 2024

Who knows how many Strong Female Leads Agatha has been shoehorned into in the three years she’s spent trapped in the TV-trope hellscape that is Westview, New Jersey? —Judy Berman, TIME, 30 Sep. 2024

What begins as a detective noir to find who killed Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) soon morphs into a dream-like hellscape, as the local authorities and residents of Twin Peaks are besieged by other-worldly occurrences. —Janey Tracey, EW.com, 22 Sep. 2024

Having a public opinion on a video game or The Acolyte could turn your mentions into a hellscape. —Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 20 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above