Hell

Pronunciation

• enPR: hÄ•l, IPA: /hÉ›l/
• Rhymes: -É›l

Alternative forms

• (Christianity) Hell
• hel 17th century
• helle

Origin

From Middle English helle, from Old English hel, hell, helle ("nether world, abode of the dead, hell"), from Proto-Germanic *haljō ("nether world, concealed place"), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- ("to cover, conceal, save"). Cognate Dutch hel ("hell"), German Hölle ("hell"), Swedish helvete ("hell"), Icelandic hel ("the abode of the dead, death"). Also related to the Hel of Germanic mythology. See also hele.

Full definition of hell

Proper noun

1. In various religions, the place where some or all spirits are believed to go after deathDo Muslims believe that all non-Muslims go to hell?
2. (Abrahamic religions, uncountable) The place where devils live and where sinners are tortured after deathMay you rot in hell!
• 1667, John Milton, Paradise LostBetter to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
• 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManHell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.

Synonyms

• (euphemisms for Christian place for damned souls after death) Hades, heck, infernal region, inferno, netherworld, underworld
• (Mormonism) Spirit Prison

Antonyms

• (in Abrahamic religions, uncountable) heaven

Noun

1. (countable, hyperbole) A place or situation of great suffering in life.My new boss is making my job a hell.I went through hell to get home today.
• 1879, General William T. Sherman, commencement address at the Michigan Military AcademyThere is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
• 1986, Disposable Heroes, Why, am I dying?
  Kill, have no fear
  Lie, live off lying
  Hell, hell is here
2. (countable) A place for gambling.
• W. Blacka convenient little gambling hell for those who had grown reckless
• 1907, Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent... the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; ...
3. An extremely hot place.You don't have a snowball's chance in hell.
4. Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a nounI'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more.What the hell is wrong with you?He says he's going home early? Like hell he is.
5. (obsolete) A place into which a tailor throws his shreds, or a printer his broken type.
6. In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.

Derived terms

Interjection

1. (not polite) Used to express negative discontent.Oh, hell! I got another parking ticket.
2. (not polite) Used to emphasize Hell, yeah!