hellscape
Americannoun
-
a bleak landscape or one that resembles hell.
a post-apocalyptic hellscape.
-
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.
People unnecessarily sold low to preserve wealth that would have been useless in a postapocalyptic hellscape.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 2, 2026
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
Following up 2020's Doom: Eternal, The Dark Ages plunges player character the Doom Slayer into a Medieval hellscape filled with demonic enemies and an arsenal of frankly ridiculous weapons.
From BBC • May 11, 2025
We're all tired after this hellscape of a year, and making choices more complicated than eating pie or cake just seems like a lot of extra effort.
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2024
The car bumped and thumped over more debris in the road, and Akira’s eyes were drawn back to the hellscape outside her window.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
