one hell of a mess
2
8.4
- idiom
- NSFW
:
un verdadero desastre
- The party turned into one hell of a mess when the drinks were spilled all over the floor.
- leave one hell of a mess
Examples
-
Well, we're in one hell of a mess now.
-
Now you have made one hell of a mess.
-
You got me in one hell of a mess, John.
-
That's one hell of a mess.
-
That's one hell of a mess they got left to sort out.
-
He has put this country in one hell of a mess!
Blog text (23) -
We're in one hell of a mess after the storm damaged the entire neighborhood.
-
After the unexpected layoffs, the company found itself in one hell of a mess with its projects delayed.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A sudden event that causes great damage, loss, or failure
∞
1.0
A situation in which things are untidy and confused
138
4.8
A time of great confusion and disorder
96
5.1
Great damage and confusion that makes things stop working
68
7.3
Violent disorder and chaos that causes damage or a lot of trouble
25
7.9
A difficult situation that is hard to escape or solve
22
8.0
A loud, wild situation of disorder and confusion
15
8.8
A confused, messy situation that causes trouble
14
6.8
A system that is hard to predict because small changes cause big effects
13
5.5
A confused situation that is hard to understand or solve
12
7.7
A noisy, confused situation with a crowd behaving badly
10
9.9
A situation that is very messy and badly managed
10
6.2
A wild fight or argument with many people and no rules
9
5.0
A confused, disorganized situation where things are not in order
8
8.2
A noisy scene where people are confused and out of control
3
7.7
A confused, complicated situation that is hard to understand
1
5.5
A difficult, unpleasant situation that is hard to fix
1
3.7
A situation that is a total failure causing big problems
1
5.5
A place or situation that is very messy and out of order
1
9.9
A confusing, chaotic situation with many mixed-up parts
A situation that is very messy and badly managed
A very chaotic and difficult task or situation
A very messy place or situation
A situation with things all over and people confused
A sudden violent crowd event that causes confusion and danger
A state of confusion where things are unclear or messy
A confused, messy situation when plans go wrong
A confused, messy situation where plans go wrong
Antonyms
How Messy
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the individual words ('one', 'hell', 'of', 'a', 'mess') are familiar, the sequence 'one hell of' functions as a colloquial intensifier where 'hell' is used metaphorically to amplify negativity. A B1 learner who knows the words can likely guess it means a very bad or extreme mess, but the fixed, idiomatic collocation and strength of the intensification are not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
One hell of a mess comes from using hell as a strong picture of something terrible. Saying a room is one hell of a mess is like saying it is as bad as 'hell', so the phrase means a very big and messy situation.