Link Centre Dictionary

hell

UK/hɛl/ US/ˈhɛl/ very common

noun

1.

any place of pain and turmoil

  • “the hell of battle”
  • “the inferno of the engine room”
  • “when you”
Synonyms
2.

a cause of difficulty and suffering

  • “war is hell”
  • “go to blazes”
Synonyms
3.

(Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment

  • “Hurl”
  • “- John Milton;”
Synonyms
Antonyms
4.
5.

violent and excited activity

  • “they began to fight like sin”
Synonyms
6.

noisy and unrestrained mischief

  • “raising blazes”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English hel, hell, helle, hælle, from Old English hel, hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“hell, netherworld”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). First attested in c. 725. Cognates Cognate with Yola helle (“hell”), Saterland Frisian Hälle (“hell”), West Frisian hel (“hell”), Alemannic German Hell (“hell”), Cimbrian hélla (“hell”), Dutch hel (“hell”), German Hölle (“hell”), Limburgish hel, Héll, Höll (“hell”), Luxembourgish Häll (“hell”), Vilamovian heł, hełł (“hell”), Danish helvede (“hell”), ihjel (“to death”), Faroese helviti (“hell”), Icelandic hel (“death, hell”), helvíti (“hell”), Norwegian Nynorsk hel (“death, underworld”), helvete (“hell”), Swedish helvete (“hell”), ihjäl (“to death”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰 (halja, “hell”), Estonian koll (“bugbear”), Finnish koljo (“giant; evil spirit; devil”); also Cornish keles (“to conceal, hide”), Irish ceil (“to conceal, hide; to cover up”), Welsh celu (“to conceal, hide”), Faliscan 𐌂𐌄𐌋𐌀 (cela, “tomb”), Latin cella (“hut, storeroom; barn, granary”), Greek κολεός (koleós, “vagina; sheath; scabbard; coleus”), Lithuanian šalmas (“helmet”), Belarusian шало́м (šalóm, “helmet”), Bulgarian and ...

Phrases

  • all hell breaks loose
  • as all hell
  • as hell
  • bastard operator from hell
  • bleeding hell
  • bloody hell
  • blooming hell
  • bullet hell
  • hell no
  • hell yeah
  • hell yes
  • hell's bells

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.