hellhole

[ hel-hohl ]

noun

1. a place totally lacking in comfort, cleanliness, order, etc.
2. a place or establishment noted for its illegal or immoral practices.

hellhole

/ ˈhɛlˌhəʊl /

noun

1. an unpleasant or evil place

Word History and Origins

Origin of hellhole¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; hell, hole

Example Sentences

What’s more, we live in a reality where too many people try to turn the world into an elaborate conspiracy-driven hellhole, where everybody is trying to keep the truth from you and the villains are hidden in shadow.

From Vox

If we don’t want to burn through every possible resource on the planet or end up in a plastic-choked hellhole like the one in Trashlands, we have to rethink how we use and reprocess waste.

From Outside Online

By 1994, when Fear Street Part 1 takes place, Shadyside has been known for generations as a full-on hellhole.

From Time

My parents retired to a total hellhole, not so much as a nearby playground, that requires a four-hour flight.

From Washington Post

They'd tell you immediately that we need security around our ambassador in a hellhole like Benghazi.

From The Daily Beast

“This place was a hellhole,” says Akram Mohamed Ramadan, a rebel fighter who came to visit the prison on Friday.

From The Daily Beast

From these headquarters, Maria Leon and her family had turned the neighborhood into a hellhole.

From The Daily Beast

At least I could comfort myself with the thought that the mom and kid got out of that hellhole alive.

From The Daily Beast

How did you research that portrait of Aden, which seems like the most terrifying hellhole I can imagine?

From The Daily Beast

The flag which floats over every hellhole of mine and mill and prison?

From Project Gutenberg

But near the Mammoth Hot Springs is a hellhole that did attract me.

From Project Gutenberg