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

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)