hellishnessn.
/ˈhɛlᵻʃnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈhɛlɪʃnᵻs/ The quality or state of being hellish; infernal nature or disposition; dreadfulness, awfulness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > hellishness > [noun]
hellishness1573
infernality1805
Tophetism1859
the world > the supernatural > deity > hell > [noun] > quality of being
hellishness1573
society > morality > moral evil > [noun] > place of evil > quality of being hellish
hellishness1573
infernality1805
Tophetism1859
infernalism1864
1573 G. Gascoigne Disc. Aduentures Master F. I. in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 257 Lodginges..might in them commodiously be deuised, by such one as coulde endure the hellishnes of the place.
1608 G. Markham & L. Machin Dumbe Knight iv. sig. H2 I was..starre crost with some hagges hellishnesse.
1648 T. Gage Eng.-Amer. xiv. 82 Outward seeming and frothy sanctity, and inward hellishnesse.
1711 R. Laurence Sacerdotal Powers Pref. iii The Hellishness of a few Fiery Zealots Plots and Designs.
1753 in tr. A. Frey True & Authentic Acct. 18 (note) The Danger, Impiety, and Hellishness of the Zinzendorfian..Sect, is now manifest.
1826 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 14 Oct. 179 Enough to convince any one of the hellishness of this system!
1854 A. Duff in G. Smith Life (1881) xxi. 342 Such utter absolute hellishness I never saw surpassed.
1926 W. E. Woodward G. Washington xix. 304 The degeneracy of England! The very hellishness of it all!
1948 Phylon 9 383 The hellishness of war..has rarely been described with such calm objectivity.
1986 F. Gado Passion of Ingmar Bergman 78 The infanticide..only serves to illustrate the extent of the world's hellishness.
2002 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Mar. 244/2 I was shocked by the state of the nation, the hellishness of Nairobi, the explosion of its slums.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1573