Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

hell of a en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈhɛləvə/

Meanings

  1. (colloquial, not-comparable, vulgar) Intensifier; indicates that someone or something is especially good, bad, difficult, etc.
    • She had a hell of a time trying to open the jar. In the end she gave up: it was one hell of a cover.
    • Where were you? / I got lost in the woods. / Wow! Hell of a place to get lost!
    • "You’re asking too many questions. Look. You’re a cute kid. I mean, you’re a hell of a chick. You’re a knockout. But don’t go thinking you’re too important at this stage." 2011, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, Penguin Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 168:
    • Yeah, this was one hell of a party / Nobody ever got to bed / But the morning after's killing me / And I have to rest my head 2007, “One Hell of a Party”, in Pocket Symphony, performed by Air ft. Jarvis Cocker:
    • Well done! That's a hell of an achievement!

Deriveds

heck of a · hella · helluva

Relateds

big old

Translations (5)

fr d'enfer (intensifier: especially (good, bad, difficult etc.)) · fr sacré (intensifier: especially (good, bad, difficult etc.)) · pl cholerny (intensifier: especially (good, bad, difficult etc.)) · he חֲתִיכַת (intensifier: especially (good, bad, difficult etc.)) · hu nem semmi (intensifier: especially (good, bad, difficult etc.))