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
His task in 2023 was clear: to drag this isolating hellscape kicking and screaming onto the big screen, and in a way that resembles his YouTube series.
From BBC ● May 29, 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
And judge after judge after judge has said: No hellscape.
From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2025
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.
