as in dump
a dirty or messy place
his first apartment was a hellhole in an unsafe neighborhood
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hellhole
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
She was immediately put on the next plane back to her Third World hellhole.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hellhole
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
She was immediately put on the next plane back to her Third World hellhole.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hellhole
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hellhole
Noun
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Two Argentine officials investigating the outbreak say the government’s leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching tour while visiting a garbage dump.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 May 2026
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The most likely explanation for the wave-off is that, after Barbashev’s dump-in, LaCombe might have hesitated, if only for a fateful moment, while Eichel went hard after the puck.—
Eric Stephens,
New York Times,
5 May 2026
Noun
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Congress is going to have to address the mess created by not enforcing past immigration laws.—
Lucas Robinson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 May 2026
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This compounds the mess inherent to cooking with a young child, who, turns out, is apt to get as much flour on the floor as inside the bowl.—
Rachel Tepper Paley,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
7 May 2026
Noun
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The Hoosiers have climbed out of that hole thanks to Cignetti.—
Antonio Morales,
New York Times,
12 May 2026
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Heading into this week, the Green Mile was the toughest-three hole stretch on the PGA Tour, with golfers averaging nearly a shot over par while splashing almost 2,000 balls into the water since 2003.—
Jordan Kaye,
Charlotte Observer,
11 May 2026
Noun
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De Wet claims Olivier then ordered him to dispose of their bodies in a pigsty — an act prosecutors believe was meant to destroy evidence.—
Christina Coulter,
People.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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Regard your property as an investment in a pigsty, and visitors will treat it thus.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Rainn Wilson, the actor who portrayed him, has a pigpen.—
Rachel Davies,
Architectural Digest,
3 Mar. 2026
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If the Hogs couldn’t win the day in their pigpen, with Bryce Young sidelined since the second quarter with a sprained shoulder, after scoring 23 straight points in the midst of a rare, extended Alabama meltdown, will this ridiculous streak ever end?—
Kevin Scarbinsky | Special to AL.com,
al,
2 Oct. 2022
Noun
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The result leaves nearly every performer fumbling for traction in Serkis and Stoller’s muddy-yet-gutless cinematic sty.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
30 Apr. 2026
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In 1981, he was elected mayor, if not quite the Zohran Mamdani of the Reagan revolution (Mamdani won by two hundred thousand votes, not ten), then at least a sty in the Gipper’s eye.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hellhole.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hellhole. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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