Meanings
comparative more hell-bent · superlative most hell-bent · alternative hellbent · alternative hel-bent · alternative hel bent
- informalRecklessly determined to do or achieve (something).
He was hell-bent on coming first, no matter what.
2 more examples
If somebody had asked me why I was so hell-bent on grabbing a piece of Penny Hardwick's chest, I wouldn't have known what to say. And if somebody were to ask Penny why she was so hell-bent on stopping me, I'll bet she'd be stumped for an answer too.
1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 16The PP has seized on the possibility of an amnesty to rally support and to portray the PSOE leader as craven, dependent on Catalan separatists and hellbent on remaining in office.
2023 September 26, Sam Jones, “Spain elections: Feijóo launches doomed bid to lead country”, in The Guardian, →ISSNSynonyms: dead set
comparative more hell-bent · superlative most hell-bent
- informalIn a recklessly determined manner; determinedly, wholeheartedly.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveRecklessly determined to do or achieve (something).
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiverecklessly determined
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From hell (“in a manner that uses all of the strength, speed, or effort that a person can summon”) + bent (“determined, insistent”), that is, in the sense “determined like hell”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian готов на всичко, настървен
- готов на всичко (gotov na vsičko)recklessly determined to do or achieve something
- настървен (nastărven)recklessly determined to do or achieve something
- заинатен (zainaten)recklessly determined to do or achieve something
Catalan entossudit, encaparrat
- entossuditrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- encaparratrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Chinese Mandarin 拼命的
- 拼命的 (pīnmìngde)recklessly determined to do or achieve something
Czech odhodlaný, pevně odhodlaný
- odhodlanýrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- pevně odhodlanýrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Dutch vastbesloten
- vastbeslotenrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Finnish jääräpäinen
- jääräpäinenrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
French acharné
- acharnérecklessly determined to do or achieve something
German unerbittlich, versessen
- unerbittlichrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- versessenrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- versteiftrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Hungarian (a végsőkig) elszánt, (teljességgel) eltökélt
- (a végsőkig) elszántrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- (teljességgel) eltökéltrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Italian caparbio, determinato
- caparbiorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- determinatorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- ostinatorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Māori waweroka, waweruka
- wawerokarecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- wawerukarecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Persian لجوج
- لجوج (lajuj)recklessly determined to do or achieve something
Polish zdeterminowany, zdesperowany
- zdeterminowanyrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- zdesperowanyrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Russian готовый на всё
- готовый на всё (gotovyj na vsjo)recklessly determined to do or achieve something
Spanish empecinado, empeñado
- empecinadorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- empeñadorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- emperradorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
- encasquetadorecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Swedish fast besluten
- fast beslutenrecklessly determined to do or achieve something
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hell-bent
Cite this entry
hell-bent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hell-bent
“hell-bent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hell-bent. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hell-bent,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hell-bent.
Source: hell-bent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.