1
as in inferno
the place of punishment for the wicked after death
condemned to hell for their sins
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in nightmare
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
picking cotton under the hot summer sun was hell
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in havoc
a state in which everything is out of order
all hell broke loose when the jury's verdict was announced
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hell
The gates of hell are opened — and Maria (Sarah Sherman) is thrown out the window three times!
—
Andy Hoglund, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Feb. 2026
Denver author Josiah Hesse was raised by Evangelical parents in churches that believe in the torments of hell, that their poverty is due to their sinfulness and lack of faith.
—Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 1 Feb. 2026
Rauw, a 33-year-old San Jaun romantic, had a breakthrough after a breakup, skipping coolly across genres and balancing electronic and acoustic arrangements following a split with Rosalia; even in polar vortex hell, Karol G’s Tropicoqueta goes over like a glass of concentrated essence of summer.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
The first is a documentary that chronicles the tumultuous, year-long construction of Disneyland; the other serves as the ideal pre-game option to Rachel McAdams’ latest flight-from-hell flick.
—Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hell
Andy Hoglund, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Feb. 2026
Denver author Josiah Hesse was raised by Evangelical parents in churches that believe in the torments of hell, that their poverty is due to their sinfulness and lack of faith.
—Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 1 Feb. 2026
Rauw, a 33-year-old San Jaun romantic, had a breakthrough after a breakup, skipping coolly across genres and balancing electronic and acoustic arrangements following a split with Rosalia; even in polar vortex hell, Karol G’s Tropicoqueta goes over like a glass of concentrated essence of summer.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
The first is a documentary that chronicles the tumultuous, year-long construction of Disneyland; the other serves as the ideal pre-game option to Rachel McAdams’ latest flight-from-hell flick.
—Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hell
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hell
Noun
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Donnie orders all of the women out and begins to throw Molotov cocktails to trap the men, who die in a blazing inferno.—
Demetrius Patterson,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Feb. 2026
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More than 230 firefighters and paramedics were dispatched as the inferno grew into a four-alarm fire.—
Kerry Burke,
New York Daily News,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
But Brontë’s novel is an eternal nightmare, one that has haunted readers for two centuries.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
13 Feb. 2026
-
This system, that supposed to take care of people and protect them, all of a sudden becomes a nightmare.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
This is about Tom Homan and Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem and all the other immigration officials that have wrought so much unfounded havoc.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
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Expect Williams and Murphy to wreak similar havoc.—
Cedric Golden,
Austin American Statesman,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Darnold, still just 28, is back from the abyss and ascending.—
Jerry Brewer,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
-
An existentialist peers into the abyss and feels a shiver of possibility, the freedom to be anything.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Laocoön and His Sons, an exquisite marble sculpture of the legendary Trojan priest writhing in agony as he’s attacked by sea-serpents, was first unearthed in the early sixteenth-century, the only missing piece his right arm.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
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Steven McDonald, a fallen hero of the department who channeled the agony of three devastating gunshot wounds into an enduring message of peace and forgiveness.—
Barry Williams,
New York Daily News,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Specifically, the bench is a dysfunctional mess.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
5 Feb. 2026
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And now we’re stuck having to clean up this mess.—
Claudia Levens,
jsonline.com,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Sloth, after all, is a deadly sin, and it was often seen as the first step on the slippery slope to perdition.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
31 Oct. 2025
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California policymakers continue to make laws and allow regulators to contrive rules that make California a land of perdition rather than destination for enterprise because they have been captured by left-of-center interests.—
Kerry Jackson,
Oc Register,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Embracing misery is one kind of defiance; demanding to be heard is another.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
5 Feb. 2026
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This year, more than usual, a group of Florida lawmakers are clinging to a Biblical-sounding principle — and doing their best to ensure that the wages of sin are, at the very least, misery.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hell.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hell. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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