as in dump
a dirty or messy place
his first apartment was a hellhole in an unsafe neighborhood
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hellhole
Far from being the hellholes that Trump and his minions constantly depict, cities such as New York and Boston and Seattle are already desirable places to live—witness their housing pressures.
—
Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025
Who wants to work to separate family members from each other or put people in a hellhole in the Everglades?
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2025
The place where Dante cast endless sinners, upside down in hellholes of their own carving, or in the tangled forest of suicides, or with the fratricides in the ninth circle, all of them eternally condemned.
—Literary Hub, 11 June 2025
She was immediately put on the next plane back to her Third World hellhole.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hellhole
Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025
Who wants to work to separate family members from each other or put people in a hellhole in the Everglades?
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 4 Aug. 2025
The place where Dante cast endless sinners, upside down in hellholes of their own carving, or in the tangled forest of suicides, or with the fratricides in the ninth circle, all of them eternally condemned.
—Literary Hub, 11 June 2025
She was immediately put on the next plane back to her Third World hellhole.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hellhole
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hellhole
Noun
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Homes are being built around the solid waste dump that opened more than three decades ago.—
Michele Gile,
CBS News,
5 Feb. 2026
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The other is finding someone who will take Yoshida in a salary dump, which would probably require attaching a pitching prospect or two.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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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
-
Will the loss or diminishment of newspapers leave a hole in society?—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
10 Feb. 2026
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Oval holes in the walls once held lamps to light the street after dark.—
Maureen O'Hare,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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De Wet claims Olivier then ordered him to dispose of their bodies in a pigsty — an act prosecutors believe was meant to destroy evidence.—
Christina Coulter,
People.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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Regard your property as an investment in a pigsty, and visitors will treat it thus.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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If the Hogs couldn’t win the day in their pigpen, with Bryce Young sidelined since the second quarter with a sprained shoulder, after scoring 23 straight points in the midst of a rare, extended Alabama meltdown, will this ridiculous streak ever end?—
Kevin Scarbinsky | Special to AL.com,
al,
2 Oct. 2022
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Police came back the next day and found the boy's remains in the family's pigpen.—
Christine Pelisek,
Peoplemag,
12 Aug. 2022
Noun
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In 1981, he was elected mayor, if not quite the Zohran Mamdani of the Reagan revolution (Mamdani won by two hundred thousand votes, not ten), then at least a sty in the Gipper’s eye.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
19 Jan. 2026
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In eye care, HOCl is used to help with dry eyes, sties, and conditions like blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD).—
Boutayna Chokrane,
Wired News,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hellhole.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hellhole. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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