like hell
75
7.9
- idiom
- NSFW
:
a muerte
- Get a good idea and then work like hell to make it popular.
- run like hell
And I tried like hell to paint like William de Kooning.
- And I tried like hell to paint like William de Kooning.
- And he says, I wonder if those Taiwanese would fight like hell the way the Ukrainians have.
- Oh, Ouch, that's going to sting like hell.
- It's only been open to immigration recently and is struggling like hell to deal with it.
- certainly extremely tenacious and and then just work like hell. I mean, you just have to put in,
- Because now the hunt, the chase, you playing hard to get hurts like hell.
- And thirdly, if he's smart, he's looking at how those Ukrainians are fighting like hell.
- You know, without that fight, there's poem stand up and fight, fight like hell.
Examples
-
And when I do, I want you to run like hell, do you hear me?
-
My neck hurt like hell.
-
Place yourself on death ground, where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.
-
And we're gonna fight like hell.
-
I was worried like hell you might have noticed I was very still and very quiet.
-
They will fight like hell to get that thing back.
-
I really liked him, and I was working like hell to get him through his pneumonia.
Fiction book (1995) -
You've got two choices: Run like hell or climb up and put it out so we can talk.
-
Janet lurched to her feet and ran like hell down the hallway that led to the side door.
Fiction book (1991) -
You need to study like hell if you want to pass that exam.
Synonyms
86
7.8
With a lot of energy and very quickly
23
6.7
Very strongly and with a lot of energy
13
8.1
Act very quickly and with great effort
12
5.6
In a very strong and angry way
8
8.2
Very quickly and with great energy
6
8.1
Very quickly and with great success
4
7.4
To do something with great energy and effort
4
4.7
Very quickly and with great force
4
8.6
To a very great degree
2
8.8
In a very intense and unpleasant way
1
9.2
To do something very quickly or with great effort
1
7.6
Act with very strong, urgent energy and full focus
Acts very quickly and with great force
In a very energetic and excited way
With very strong, uncontrolled energy and effort
Antonyms
How Intense
Surface Forms
Morphology
like + hell
The phrase 'like hell' is an idiomatic, colloquial intensifier whose ironic meaning ('not at all' / strong disagreement) does not follow directly from the literal senses of 'like' and 'hell'. A B1 learner who knows the constituents is unlikely to predict the sarcastic/negational use because 'like' here is not the usual comparative/similarity marker and 'hell' functions as an expletive intensifier, making the overall meaning language-specific and unpredictable.
Etymology
Like hell uses the strong image of hell as a place of fire and pain, so doing something like hell feels like you are moving or working as fast and as hard as you can. So it means 'with great intensity, speed, or effort'.