Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

give someone hell

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.91 in modern English

Syllables: give -some-one hell
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To castigate someone; to dress them down.

verb

To torment; To make miserable.

verb

To put up a fight against; to battle strongly and effectively.

Example Sentences

"Near-synonym: raise hell"
"His boss really gave him hell when she found out that he'd been lying about filing the reports."
"I gave it off to her and then I stormed right over to her husband, my colleague, and gave him hell as well ."
"He stopped calling me Space Barbie after Mike gave him hell last week."
"When the hospital called and told him Roberta was missing, Dr. Meducca gave them hell."
"I gave him hell about his sloppy uniform ; but don't worry, I'll get him shaped up pretty damn quick ."

Inflected Forms

gives someone hell (present, singular) giving someone hell (participle, present) gave someone hell (past) given someone hell (participle, past)

Frequently Paired Words

hellraiser put through the wringer put through the mangle put through the mill put someone through their paces

Synonyms

raise hell

Questions

What does give someone hell mean?: To castigate someone; to dress them down.

How to pronounce give someone hell

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