hellish

English

Etymology

From hell +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlɪʃ
• Hyphenation: hell‧ish

Adjective

hellish (comparative more hellish, superlative most hellish)

1. infernal, related or similar to hell
   • 1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signature [F3], recto:

     Fauſtus is gone, regard his helliſh fall, / Whoſe fiendful fortune may exhort the wiſe, / Onely to wonder at vnlawful things, […]

2. (hyperbolic) causing great pain, discomfort or distress

   Synonyms: awful, horrible, infernal, nightmarish, terrible

   I woke up from a hellish noise coming from the house next door.

Antonyms

• heavenly

Derived terms

• hellishly
• hellishness
• unhellish

Related terms

• hell

Translations

infernal — see infernal

causing pain, discomfort or distress

Arabic: جَحِيمِيّ (jaḥīmiyy), جَهَنَّمِيّ (jahannamiyy) Armenian: դժոխային (hy) (džoxayin) Belarusian: пяке́льны (pjakjélʹny) Bulgarian: а́дски (bg) (ádski), пъ́клен (bg) (pǎ́klen) Czech: pekelný (cs) Danish: helvedes, infernalsk Dutch: hels (nl) Finnish: helvetillinen (fi) French: infernal (fr) German: höllisch (de) Italian: infernale (it) Macedonian: пеколен (pekolen), адски (adski) Malayalam: നരക (naraka) Norman: înfèrna Norwegian: Bokmål: helvetes, infernalsk Polish: piekielny (pl) Portuguese: infernal (pt) Romanian: infernal (ro) Russian: а́дский (ru) (ádskij), а́довый (ru) (ádovyj) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: па̀клен Roman: pàklen (sh) Slovak: pekelný Slovene: peklenski Spanish: infernal (es) Swedish: helvetisk (sv), infernalisk (sv) Ukrainian: пеке́льний (pekélʹnyj) Urdu: جَہَنَّمی (jahannamī)