hellish

[ hel-ish ]

adjective

1. of, like, or suitable to hell; infernal; vile; horrible:

   It was a hellish war.

2. miserable; abominable; execrable:

   We had a hellish time getting through traffic.

3. devilishly bad:

   The child's behavior was hellish most of the day.

hellish

/ ˈhɛlɪʃ /

adjective

1. of or resembling hell
2. wicked; cruel
3. informal.
   very difficult or unpleasant

adverb

1. informal.
   (intensifier)

   a hellish good idea

Derived Forms

• ˈhellishly, adverb
• ˈhellishness, noun

Other Words From

• hellish·ly adverb
• hellish·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hellish¹

First recorded in 1520–30; hell + -ish ¹

Example Sentences

Yet the welcoming atmosphere represented for thousands of migrants a moment of rest and hope after a hellish journey and an indefinite future.

From Time

For anyone who thought vaccines would quickly end this hellish pandemic, think again.

From The Daily Beast

Rocky neighbors were too dry and cold like Mars, or too hot and hellish like Venus.

From MIT Technology Review

Although Venus is uninhabitable today, the fact that it may have been habitable at one point means it wasn’t always destined for such a hellish fate if circumstances broke a little more favorably.

From MIT Technology Review

Hickson’s basic design was to put volunteers through ten weeks of fairly hellish training, involving six days a week of 40 minutes of cycling or running at intensities that reached 90 to 100 percent of max heart rate by the end.

From Outside Online

After many hellish months in Liberia, it seems the worst could be over.

From The Daily Beast

But there is much to be said for a private, hellish experience becoming an issue of public debate.

From The Daily Beast

From Ferguson to Gaza to Iraq, this summer has been hellish.

From The Daily Beast

He was finally released in 2004, after almost 40 hellish years of brutal internment.

From The Daily Beast

And that means it has to potential to redeem Christie—or make his already-hellish 2014 much, much worse.

From The Daily Beast

This, they said, was no human being like themselves; such hellish practices could have but one origin.

From Project Gutenberg

So this was the accursed one who had done the hellish deed, and it was human folly that had caused this demoniacal explosion.

From Project Gutenberg

This allusion to the hellish gambling which went on in the dead man's house, was his only funeral oration.

From Project Gutenberg

They are the night force come on deck for a breath of air between working their shifts in the hellish heat below.

From Project Gutenberg

They saw the oncoming hordes of brutes in a hellish-looking garb, and they sent back the answer: "Retire be damned!"

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• horrible
• infernal
• terrible