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hellacious

or hel·la·ceous

[he-ley-shuh s]
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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.
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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. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for hellacious

hellacious

adjective US slang
  1. remarkable; horrifying
  2. wonderful; excellent
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Word Origin

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

Word Origin and History for hellacious

adj.

1930s, college slang, from hell + fanciful ending (cf. bodacious).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper