DEFINITIONS
The
2019 WORD
OF THE YEAR is...

hellacious

or hel·la·ceous

[ he-ley-shuh s ]
/ hɛˈleɪ ʃəs /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR hellacious ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective Slang.

remarkable; astonishing: They're raising a hellacious amount of money in taxes.
formidably difficult: We had a hellacious time getting here in the blizzard.

Words related to hellacious

perfect, fantastic, good, tough, exceptional, tremendous, positive, awesome, admirable, terrific, marvelous, bad, wonderful, fine, best, absolute, heavy, expert, adept, crack

Words nearby hellacious

hell-bent for leather, hell-fired, hell-for-leather, hell-raiser, hella, hellacious, helladic, hellas, hellbender, hellbent, hellbox

Origin of hellacious

hell + -acious (extracted from audacious, sagacious, vivacious, etc.), perhaps with intensive or augmentative force; cf. bodacious, splendacious
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for hellacious

hellacious
/ (hɛˈleɪʃəs) /

adjective US slang

remarkable; horrifying
wonderful; excellent

Word Origin for hellacious

C20: from hell + -acious as in audacious
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012