Phrase guide

hell's bells

intj · noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˌhɛlz ˈbɛlz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

intj

Meaning 1

An expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: mildly, vulgar

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: 4uck, ay, chihuahua, blast, bugger, bummer, byrlady, consarn it, crap, crud, curses, dammit, damn, dadgummit, dagnabbit, dang, dang it, darn, darn it, dash, dash it, dizamn, d'oh, doggone, doggonit, drat, fark, feck, fiddle, fiddlefart, fiddlestick, fiddlesticks, fook, frak, frick, fuck, fuck me, fudge, goddamn, goshdarn, goddammit, goshdarnit, good grief, gorblimey, hang it all, heck, hell, hell's bells, hell's bloody bells, hell's bloody bells and damnation, Holy Mother, Holy Mother of God, ish, Mother of God, nuts, phooey, piss, poo, raasclaat, rats, shit, shoot, shucks, son of a bitch, son of a gun, sugar, hell's teeth, adzooks, caramba, mirabile dictu, begorra, bleeding heck, bleeding Nora, bless my heart, bless my soul, bless us, blige, blimey, bloody hell, bloody Nora, blow me, blow me backwards, blow me down, blow me over, blow me pink, blow me tight, blow me up, blow my buttons, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, by all that is holy, by Allah, by cracky, by George, by God, by golly, by gosh, by gum, by gummy, by jingo, by Jove, by juckies, by Jupiter, by thunder, by the living jingo, Christ, Christ alive, Christ almighty, Christ on a bike, Christ on a cracker, Christ on a raft, Christ on a stick, Christ on a crutch, coo, cor, cor blimey, cor lummy, cowabunga, crikey, criminy, cripes, crivvens, chuffing hell, dear God, dear me, dearie me, deary me, dear Lord, diggety, eep, egad, egads, ermahgerd, fancy that, flaming Nora, flipping heck, flipping Nora, fuark, fucking hell, fucking Nora, gad so, Gadsbodikins, gadsbud, gadzooks, gaw, gee, gee whiz, gee willikers, geeminy, geez, geez Louise, geshmak, get out of town, glory be, God Almighty, God in heaven, God's teeth, good golly, golly, golly gee willikers, golly gosh, good God, good gracious, good gravy, good heavens, good Lord, goodness, goodness gracious, goodness gracious me, goodness me, googly-moogly, Gordon Bennett, gosh, gosh all hemlock, gracious, gramercy, great balls of fire, great Caesar, great Caesar's ghost, great googly moogly, great Scott, gyatt, hallo, hello, heavens, heavens above, heavens to Betsy, heavens to Murgatroyd, hey, heyday, hold up, holy buckets, holy cannoli, holy cow, holy crap, holy crap on a cracker, holy cricket, holy crickets, holy crud, holy dignity, holy doodle, holy fuck, holy fuck knuckles, holy fudge, holy guacamole, holy Hannah, holy hell, holy kamoley, holy kamoly, holy macaroni, holy mackerel, holy magnum, holy moley, holy moly, holy man, holy Moses, holy ravioli, holy shit, holy stromboli, holy smoke, holy Toledo, hooly dooly, hot damn, I'll be, I'll be a dirty bird!, I'll be a monkey's uncle, I'll be a son of a bitch, I'll be a son of a gun, I'll be blowed, I'll be bound, I'll be buggered, I'll be damned, I'll be danged, I'll be darned, I'll be dashed, I'll be dipped, I'll be dipped in shit, I'll be hanged, I'll be hornswoggled, I'll be jiggered, I'll be shot, imagine that, I'm blowed, I say, Janey Mack, Jaysus, Jeebus, jeepers, jeepers creepers, jeez, jeez Louise, jeezy peeps, jeezy-peezy, Jerusalem crickets, Jesum Crow, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus fuck, Jesus H. Christ, Mary and Joseph, Jesus Murphy, Jiminy Cricket, jings, jinkies, Judas Priest, jumping Jehoshaphat, jumping Jesus, Jupiter, knock me down with a feather, knock me over with a feather, land sakes, lauks, lawks, lawks a-mercy, lawl, leapin' lizards, Lord, Lord be praised, Lord love a duck, lordy, mama mia, mamma mia, man alive, mercy sakes, mother of Pearl, my, my conscience, my giddy aunt, my heavens, my sainted aunt, my sainted uncle, my God, my goodness, my gosh, my Lord, my my, my word, no way, O gemini, ods bodikin, odsfish, odzookens, oh, oh em gee, ohmigod, oh my, oh my days, oh my God, oh my Goddess, oh my goodness, oh my goodness gracious, oh my gosh, oh my hell, oh my heck, oh my fuck, oh my life, oh my Lord, oh my stars, oh my word, oi, OMG, omigod, omigosh, peas and rice, please, praise the Lord, rah, ruddy hell, ruddy Nora, sacré bleu, sakes alive, 'sblood, 'sdeath, shart, 'sheart, sheesh, shit fire and save matches, shitting Nora, shiver my timbers, shut my mouth, shut the front door, slap my ass and call me Judy, slap my ass and call me Sally, snakes alive, sodding hell, stone me, stone the crows, strewth, strike me pink, 'struth, suffering centipedes, suffering Moses, suffering Sappho, suffering succotash, sweet Grandma on stilts, sweet Jesus, sweet Mary, sweet mother of God, sweet mother of Jesus, waow, well, I never, what, what do you know, whoa, whoah, wow, wowee, wowzers, ye gods, yikes, yikes bikes, you don't say, yowzah, zoiks, zoinks, ZOMG, ZOMFG, zooterkins, zound, zounds, zowie

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From hell + -’s + bells, possibly an elaboration of hell (used to express anger, discontent, or unhappiness) with bells chosen to rhyme with hell’s. The noun sense (Datura stramonium) may allude to the often spiny seed capsules of the poisonous plant which somewhat resemble bells when they mature and split open; compare devil's cucumber, devil's snare, devil's trumpet, and devil's weed which are other common names for the plant.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: porca misèria — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise
  • Catalan: puta misèria — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise
  • Catalan: quina misèria — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise
  • Italian: porca miseria — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise
  • Italian: porca puttana — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise
  • Italian: porca troia — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise
  • Scottish Gaelic: pit air iteig — expression of frustration, outrage, or surprise