Dictionary Home » Dictionary Definitions » hell

hell

Listen See in Thesaurus See in a sentence

Hell describes something or somewhere that is horrible, a state of great pain and suffering or a place of great suffering where sinners go. (noun)

When you experience a time of great sadness, misery, suffering and misfortune, this is an example of a time when you are said to be in hell.
When you go to a miserable, unpleasant place to be, this is an example of a time when you might say you are in hell.
An example of hell is the place where you go in the Christian religion if you are an unrepentant sinner.

See hell in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

Bible the place where the spirits of the dead are
Theol.
1. a state or place of woe and anguish, arrived at by the wicked after death; specif., esp. in Christian theology, the state or place of total and final separation from God and so of eternal misery and suffering, arrived at by those who die unrepentant in grave sin
2. popularly this state or place as the abode of Satan and of all other devils and of all the damned
3. those in hell
4. the powers of hell, evil, etc.
any place or condition of evil, pain, disorder, cruelty, etc.
Informal
1. any extremely disagreeable, unsettling, or punishing treatment or experience, or the cause or source of this
2. devilish spirits or excitement: full of hell

intransitive verb

Slang to live or act in a reckless or dissolute way: often with around

interjection

used to express irritation, anger, etc.

See hell in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(hĕl)

noun

a. often Hell The abode of condemned souls and devils in some religions; the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death, presided over by Satan.
b. A state of separation from God; exclusion from God's presence.
The abode of the dead, identified with the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades; the underworld.
a. A situation or place of evil, misery, discord, or destruction: “War is hell” (William Tecumseh Sherman).
b. Torment; anguish: went through hell on the job.
a. The powers of darkness and evil.
b. Informal One that causes trouble, agony, or annoyance: The boss is hell when a job is poorly done.
A sharp scolding: gave the student hell for cheating.
Informal Excitement, mischievousness, or high spirits: We did it for the sheer hell of it.
a. A tailor's receptacle for discarded material.
b. Printing A hellbox.
Informal Used as an intensive: How the hell can I go? You did one hell of a job.
Archaic A gambling house.

intransitive verb helled, hell·ing, hells
Informal

To behave riotously; carouse: out all night helling around.

interjection

Used to express anger, disgust, or impatience.

Word History: Hell comes to us directly from Old English hel. Because the Roman Church prevailed in England from an early date, the Roman—that is, Mediterranean—belief that hell was hot prevailed there too; in Old English hel is a black and fiery place of eternal torment for the damned. But because the Vikings were converted to Christianity centuries after the Anglo-Saxons, the Old Norse hel, from the same source as Old English hel, retained its earlier pagan senses as both a place and a person. As a place, hel is the abode of oathbreakers, other evil persons, and those unlucky enough not to have died in battle. It contrasts sharply with Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes. Unlike the Mediterranean hell, the Old Norse hel is very cold. Hel is also the name of the goddess or giantess who presides in hel, the half blue-black, half white daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha. The Indo-European root behind these Germanic words is *kel-, “to cover, conceal” (so hell is the “concealed place”); it also gives us hall, hole, hollow, and helmet.

See hell in Ologies

Hell