Meanings
- colloquialuncountableThe situation where a project (such as a movie, musical record, or piece of software) is mired in problems that delay its production and release.
The third movie in the trilogy has been in development hell for ten years already! I want to see how the story ends!
1 more example
In Hollywood, it was widely known that to make a deal with Redford was to fall into development hell—script notes, rewrites, and more rewrites—often going nowhere.
2013, Peter Biskind, Down and Dirty Pictures, Simon and Schuster, →ISBNSynonyms: development limbo, production hell
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe situation where a project (such as a movie, musical record, or piece of software) is mired in problems that delay its production and release.
Cite this entry
development hell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/development%20hell
“development hell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/development%20hell. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “development hell,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/development%20hell.
Source: development hell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.