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

Commandos‘ Dark Knight (well, his impaled corpse) was first glimpsed in the fourth episode, as part of a future hellscape envisioned by Circe. —Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 2 Jan. 2025

We might be largely alienated from the religion that spawned the all-consuming commercial hellscape that is the Christmas season, but if anything, that makes gay Christmas songs all the more resonant. —James Factora, Them, 11 Dec. 2024

New lovebirds Kate and Sean are about to jump into the hellscape that is the inner-city rental market, until Kate inherits the huge mansion in the country, but unbeknown to her, the house is haunted by this collection of needy spirits. —Max Goldbart, Deadline, 16 Sep. 2024

Could robots finally save us from the hellscape of hold music and scripted responses? —Craig S. Smith, Forbes, 16 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above