to go through hell
15
7.0
- idiom
:
pasar por el infierno
- After losing her job, she felt like she was going through hell for weeks until she found a new opportunity.
- go through hell to get
- gone through hell trying
- go through hell and back
And just, you know, what that would feel like to kind of go through hell twice.
- And just, you know, what that would feel like to kind of go through hell twice.
- We have gone through hell and back.
- My, my, my family went through hell.
- He's going to go into that character because he had to go through hell to make gold legal again.
- OK, China's going to go through hell for the next two or three months and it's going to suck.
- There is always something better available and you might have to go through hell to get there, but I really believe you can get there.
- And, you know, people who are just going through hell right now because of the changes in this world, family, friends, loved ones.
- Yes, they went through hell and back and horrible dates, but they continued to believe and they kept trying.
- You know, it's like my favorite Latin, one of my favorite Latin words is Akron, which means in order to pass through heaven, you have to go through hell.
- The number of times that I said this quote, when you're going through hell, keep going.
Examples
-
Do your best to ignore it and remember that to grow as people, we sometimes have to go through hell.
Blog text (12) -
But for every good day I have at work, I've got to go home and go through hell.
-
My family goes through hell all the time.
-
There is always something better available and you might have to go through hell to get there, but I really believe you can get there.
-
I know that you and your brother have gone through hell.
-
We know you must be going through hell, but we're here for you.
Fiction book (1996) -
Our very good friend has been going through hell for the past two years.
Blog text (4) -
One of the things that always helps me when I'm going through hell is to remember that everything changes.
-
Yes, they went through hell and back and horrible dates, but they continued to believe and they kept trying.
-
They went through hell to get me an interview with the mayor's wife.
Synonyms
∞
2.0
To feel pain or be ill
2
6.5
A period when someone has many problems
1
8.0
To have very hard times and still survive
1
6.1
A time when someone has trouble
To experience a very difficult and stressful time
A period when someone has many problems and feels unhappy
Antonyms
How Severe
15
7.0
- Informal
∞
2.0
241
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to experience extremely difficult or painful situations' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'go through' (to experience or endure) with 'hell' (a metaphor for intense suffering). This compositional metaphor is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will very likely infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The idiom go through hell comes from the image of someone having to go through hell, a place of fire and pain. That's why it means 'to go through very hard or painful times'.