hellscape

noun

hell·​scape ˈhel-ˌskāp 

plural hellscapes

: a hellish landscape : a harshly unpleasant place or environment

I blame growing up in Southern California—this did not prepare me for real winter, much less the frigid hellscape that is New York in January.

—Aliza Arbabanel

Meanwhile, it's heartbreaking to see Route 33, once called out by Jalopnik as "America's greatest driving road," reduced to this horrifying hellscape. And, of course, to think about all the nearby people and animals and communities being inundated with fire and smoke.

—Andrew P. Collins

Examples of hellscape in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For those of us who are sadly caught in the hellscape that is X, formerly known as Twitter, posting on that platform can sometimes feel like sending messages into the void. —Mathew Rodriguez, Them, 15 Oct. 2024

Donald Trump stood on a lawn at his golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, today, speaking to mainstream and right-wing media, and made a long shot pitch for votes in the state while also bashing it as a poorly run hellscape. —Ted Johnson, Deadline, 13 Sep. 2024

Cue flying cutlery, electrocutions, and a gym transformed into a fiery hellscape. —Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2024

This week, the remnants of Hurricane Helene turned this slice of heaven into a hellscape. —Steve Hartman, CBS News, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above