(someone or something) from hell
Someone or something that is extremely unpleasant or unbearable. God, Mr. Johnson was the gym teacher from hell! He used to make us run laps until we thought we were going to throw up. We were stuck in the traffic jam from hell last weekend. Nearly four hours spent going nowhere! I'm so happy to be back on solid ground! With that turbulence, that was the flight from hell!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
someone or something from hell
Fig. someone or something that is terrible or unbearable. I just attended the meeting from hell! It was quite a strain on all of us. We live next to the neighbors from hell. They are constantly fighting and their vicious dog terrorizes our kids.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
from hell
INFORMALCOMMON You can use from hell after a noun to refer to something or someone extremely unpleasant. Their longed-for break turned into the holiday from hell. She'd just had the haircut from hell. Note: This expression is often used humorously.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
— from hell
an extremely unpleasant or troublesome instance or example of something. informal 1998 Times As for Ellie Sykes , who calls herself ‘the skating mum from hell’, she's pushier still.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
from ˈhell
(informal) used to describe a very unpleasant person or thing; the worst that you can imagine: They are the neighbours from hell.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
someone or something from hell
n. someone or something very intense, annoying, or challenging. (As if the person or thing were a demon from hell.) I just came back from a cruise from hell and have lots of horror stories to tell about the trip.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
from hell
Terrible, obnoxious, the worst of its kind. This phrase, put as “——from hell,” may be applied to individuals (“the mother-in-law from hell”), events (“the walking tour from hell”), a time period (“the summer from hell”)—in short, to just about anything. It dates from the second half of the 1900s and is rapidly becoming a cliché.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer