like hell
Idioms-
Recklessly, extremely, as in We ran like hell to catch the train . [Mid-1800s]
-
Not at all, on the contrary, as in You think I'll call her stupid? Like hell I will! or Like hell I can't say that to Bob . [Late 1800s]
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.
She recalled another major wildfire in 2012 when residents had been able to return home the following day, saying: "This time it was like hell."
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
The immediate scale of his wreckage was unprecedented, but so was the level of resistance from the American public — two sides, fighting like hell to be the louder one.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
The Hudson Tunnel Project “is vital to the economy of this state and the entire region, and I will fight like hell to ensure it gets built,” Hochul said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
More than 50 minutes later in the speech, Trump said: "And we fight. We fight like hell."
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
I felt like hell warmed over, stupid and faintly sick and absolutely famished, and I think I probably wouldn’t have cared if the old woman who lived there had turned me over to the police.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
