hellish
Americanadjective
-
of, like, or suitable to hell; infernal; vile; horrible.
It was a hellish war.
-
miserable; abominable; execrable.
We had a hellish time getting through traffic.
-
devilishly bad.
The child's behavior was hellish most of the day.
adjective
-
of or resembling hell
-
wicked; cruel
-
informal very difficult or unpleasant
adverb
Other Word Forms
- hellishly adverb
- hellishness noun
Etymology
Origin of hellish
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was a huge relief to become functional in this hellish new world, but I was never confident and always made sure to stay close to the others.
From Literature
Finding the beauty in that hellish croak — something that Josh Groban was able to do in the last Broadway revival — can prove exceptionally difficult.
From Los Angeles Times
So this time around, after a hellish year for myself, and frankly, the entire country, I decided Vitamin D was a requirement: I needed to go somewhere warm.
From Salon
Those who survived the hellish conditions within these forts were then forced onto ships bound for the Americas.
I’ve been doing daily art journalism for 45 years — 36 of them at The Times, with 2,195 bylines — so I’m about to find out whether this quitting will also be hellish.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
