1
as in inferno
the place of punishment for the wicked after death
condemned to hell for their sins
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in nightmare
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
picking cotton under the hot summer sun was hell
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in havoc
a state in which everything is out of order
all hell broke loose when the jury's verdict was announced
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
America’s hunters and anglers are raising hell this week after a proposal to sell up to a half-million acres of BLM land in Nevada and Utah made it through the House Committee on Natural Resources.
—
Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2025
By Quispe López May 12, 2025 Conservative lawmakers have spent much of the 2020s making life for transgender people absolute hell across the U.S. with bills, laws, and executive orders that seek to erase us from public life.
—Quispe López, Them., 12 May 2025
If this is the slow kind of hell, I’m used to it—
My hands are folded the wrong way, the cat sits on the bed
Like a limpet, the sun drops out of the sky, inexorable
As a chandelier earring.
—Jane Yeh, The New York Review of Books, 8 May 2025
The first is Lorraine Bracco’s Roberta, his mother’s best friend, a passionate Sicilian now raising hell in a nursing home.
—EW.com, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hell
Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 14 May 2025
By Quispe López May 12, 2025 Conservative lawmakers have spent much of the 2020s making life for transgender people absolute hell across the U.S. with bills, laws, and executive orders that seek to erase us from public life.
—Quispe López, Them., 12 May 2025
If this is the slow kind of hell, I’m used to it—
My hands are folded the wrong way, the cat sits on the bed
Like a limpet, the sun drops out of the sky, inexorable
As a chandelier earring.
—Jane Yeh, The New York Review of Books, 8 May 2025
The first is Lorraine Bracco’s Roberta, his mother’s best friend, a passionate Sicilian now raising hell in a nursing home.
—EW.com, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hell
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hell
Noun
-
Can Verdugo, known for intensity — if not a full-on internal inferno like Donaldson, at least a flame — have any semblance of such impact on this team?—
David O'Brien,
New York Times,
19 Apr. 2025
-
Courtesy Andrea-Marie Stark Stark’s house is one of several that survived the inferno on her block, but its proximity to the flames meant everything inside was coated with a thick layer of soot.—
Alicia Victoria Lozano,
NBC News,
4 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Saving him and others is their work Pratt & Whitney union votes to approve new contract, end strike Private equity created a ‘nightmare’ in CT hospitals, staff say.—
Sean Krofssik,
Hartford Courant,
27 May 2025
-
Watching the men who trusted him to lead them home devoured by monsters or crushed by clashing rocks was not a fairytale, but a nightmare.—
Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 May 2025
Noun
-
Smoke follows a detective (Jurnee Smollett) and an arson investigator (Taron Egerton) who are trying to catch a pair of serial arsonists wreaking fiery havoc across the Pacific Northwest.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
28 May 2025
-
Infusing the trenches with Allen and Hargrave should make for more havoc in one-on-one matchups.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Noun
-
She’s headed back into the abyss and that cycle of suffering and escape and return that’s moved and frustrated viewers across the years.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
27 May 2025
-
Antisemitism, hatred and terrorism must be stopped, lest our civilization fall into the abyss.—
Diane Gensler,
Baltimore Sun,
26 May 2025
Noun
-
Barking in agony, the fox scratches and claws in any attempt to free itself and get to safety.—
Outside Online,
Outside Online,
28 May 2025
-
Michaela calmly explains that Jocelyn got botched plastic surgery that’s kept her in private agony for the last decade.—
Caroline Framke,
Vulture,
23 May 2025
Noun
-
The teaser at the end of this week’s hour-long episode promises bonafide flagship mess: Obnoxious guests, police coming onboard, deckhand Kyle apparently hooking up with a guest.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
3 June 2025
-
According to Tide’s fabric care scientist, Kim Romine, more concentrated liquid detergents won’t freeze all the way through, leaving you with a slippery mess.—
Lauren Thomann,
Better Homes & Gardens,
1 June 2025
Noun
-
Appropriately for a fantasy of perdition suited to this nihilistic century, the logic of eternal punishment remains opaque.—
Elisa Gonzalez,
The New Yorker,
3 Feb. 2025
-
The perdition market did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment asking if an announcement like FanDuel's would follow.—
Michael Gfoeller And David H. Rundell,
Newsweek,
15 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
In the studio, a bad idea can be put out of its misery within a few minutes.—
Ethan Shanfeld,
Variety,
30 May 2025
-
The Athletic reflects on their 2024-25 efforts, culminating in a 14th-place finish, that caused more misery than joy.—
Roshane Thomas,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hell. Accessed 7 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share