hellscape
Americannoun
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a bleak landscape or one that resembles hell.
a post-apocalyptic hellscape.
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a place or time that is hopeless, unbearable, or irredeemable: College application season is a hellscape.
It’s impossible to avoid the hellscape of social media.
College application season is a hellscape.
Enjoy your existence on this hellscape in whatever way you can.
Etymology
Origin of hellscape
First recorded in 1890–95; hell ( def. ) + -scape ( def. )
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.
The hellscape worsened when U.S. aircraft attacked the Oryoku Maru on Dec. 14, one day after leaving port, and again on Dec. 15, setting the aft deck ablaze and dealing the ship its final blows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Sure, it’s a bigger, brighter future on one hand, but it’s a dystopian hellscape on the other.
From Salon ● Feb. 27, 2026
In the sequel panel, the tables have turned: The same guy is chained in a postapocalyptic hellscape while the woman lounges happily with her robot overlord, smugly nibbling chocolates.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2025
Just a few months ago, I made my friends go back into Disneyland’s hellscape, after we had already exited the park, when I realized I’d left the rainbow sunglasses at Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2025
I know this is weird, but I make my bed every single day, even though the rest of my room is a hellscape of paper and laundry and books and clutter.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
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.
