hell

noun

ˈhel How to pronounce hell (audio)
Definition of hellnext
1
as in inferno
the place of punishment for the wicked after death condemned to hell for their sins

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2
as in nightmare
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness picking cotton under the hot summer sun was hell

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3
as in havoc
a state in which everything is out of order all hell broke loose when the jury's verdict was announced

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of hell Shaun didn't have a long Test career, but helping your side win a Test and draw a series in India - that's a hell of an achievement for a spinner! — Paul Newman, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2026 The series followed the Brannock family who moved into what was supposed to be their suburban dream home, and quickly became a living hell. — Peter White, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026 And look at the Johnson-less segments, like the overlong Weekend Update (more on that later) — or especially the stale-as-hell midterm ads political cold open, another excuse to run through all the usual impressions. — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2026 In either case, there’s a period of normalcy, followed by red flags and denial after which all hell clearly breaks loose. — Culture Critic, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hell
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hell
  1. inferno
  2. nightmare
  3. havoc
  4. abyss
  5. agony
  6. mess
  7. perdition
  8. misery
Noun
  • The chips were made from trees killed in the 2020 Castle fire, an inferno that left thousands of acres of standing dead trunks.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In 1994, a raging inferno erupted at a home in the Flores neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of inferno
Noun
  • California dreams and nightmares The Cheesecake Factory is a punchline.
    — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2026
  • But Florida’s Halloween nightmare keeps coming back wearing a red visor, flashing that devilish smirk and getting the last laugh.
    — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Oct. 2026
Definition of nightmare
Noun
  • The Heat’s defense created havoc, forcing the Hawks into 15 turnovers.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026
  • Amid the havoc, the children flee into an enclosure, their teacher slamming the door from the outside.
    — Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of havoc
Noun
  • Into the abyss walks the most unsuspecting of would-be heroes.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026
  • The film’s musical score, by Damon Albarn of Blur, has a haunting Bowie-like party-on-the-abyss shimmer.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of abyss
Noun
  • The prisoner in question, Doug Korpi, had also admitted that his agony was an act to journalist Ben Blum, who included the revelation in a broader takedown of the experiment published in 2018.
    — Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026
  • The daughters of burning witches were sometimes made to stand close to the pyre, being whipped by locals while watching their mothers die in agony.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of agony
Noun
  • In the city of Hurricane in far southwestern Utah, a shipping container drifting down a street gave way Friday to a mess of mud and debris to be cleaned up as people who had evacuated earlier in the week returned home.
    — MEAD GRUVER, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
  • General manager Les Snead is also culpable for this mess of a season, trading for Myles Garrett, who has done absolutely zero for this team.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of mess
Noun
  • The flames of perdition, fueled by guilt, estrangement, and repression, lap at society’s sham institutions and flimsy fronts of civility.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
  • On one page, tiny, antlike sinners tumbled down a cliff toward perdition.
    — Laura Preston, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of perdition
Noun
  • While some issues are clearly partisan — including the country’s current economic misery, the long-running war in Iran and the attacks on the Affordable Care Act — others are grounded in basic decency.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Nov. 2026
  • But the stand-alone fragment, in the seeming spirit of Franz Kafka’s surreal and unsettling fiction, links success to misery, and happiness to death.
    — Robert S. Levine, The Conversation, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of misery

Phrases Containing hell

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heliports
hell
hellacious
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Cite this Entry

“Hell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hell. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on hell

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about hell

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