hellscape

[ hel-skeyp ]

noun

1. a bleak landscape or one that resembles hell:

   a post-apocalyptic hellscape.

2. 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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hellscape¹

First recorded in 1890–95; hell ( def ) + -scape ( def )

Example Sentences

And it isn't just the kooky QAnon conspiracy types — Trump managed through sheer repetition to convince otherwise normal people that his first term was a golden age of peace and prosperity and that the country today is a dystopian hellscape because the price of eggs is higher than it was five years ago.

From Salon

Trump, too, has “learned” that his hellscape notions of law and justice are immune from legal consequence.

From Slate

Incidents like these will lead to media coverage that gives further grist to those who insist L.A. is a hellscape that can’t be saved.

From Los Angeles Times

Next week, we face an election in which one campaign declares “Let’s turn the page!,” while the other looks at the country, pronounces it a hellscape, and promises to “Make America Great Again!”

From Slate

It’s a hellscape that has become part of the terrain, like the palm trees that rise over Alvarado Street and the street lamps that have gone dead.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• antiutopia
• cacotopia