hellacious

Or hel·la·ceous

[he-ley-shuhs]

adjective

Slang.

1. remarkable; astonishing.

   They're raising a hellacious amount of money in taxes.

2. formidably difficult.

   We had a hellacious time getting here in the blizzard.

hellacious

/ hɛˈleɪʃəs /

adjective

1. remarkable; horrifying

2. wonderful; excellent

Word History and Origins

Origin of hellacious¹

hell + -acious (extracted from audacious, sagacious, vivacious, etc.), perhaps with intensive or augmentative force; bodacious, splendacious

Word History and Origins

Origin of hellacious¹

C20: from _hell + -acious as in _audacious

Example Sentences

And surely the hellacious fire that destroyed the palace altered the mural colors from which the illustrator worked.

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She “barged in” when Rasmussen answered, and found herself in a struggle she compared to “a hellacious bar fight.”

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There’s nothing to-the-manor-born about him; one of the book’s liveliest chapters chronicles his time working on a Canadian railroad line, sweating elbow-to-elbow with ex-convicts and other misfits with whom he developed camaraderie and a hellacious work ethic.

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A younger married pair named Nick and Honey come over for the world’s longest and most hellacious nightcap.

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Saban had turned another national stage into a disaster, a vast abyss of icy winds and hellacious fury.

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Related Words

• best 
• brilliant 
• consummate 
• excellent 
• exceptional 
• extraordinary 
• fine 
• magnificent 
• nonpareil 
• peerless 
• superlative 
• supreme