Meaning & use

hell's half acre

phrase·Advanced

(informal, American) A wild, chaotic, or hard-to-manage place, or a rough, remote area.

See it in a sentence

The old motorcycle bar was known locally as hell's half acre.

Managing five toddlers at once feels like running hell's half acre.

A note on using this word

A colorful, informal American expression; avoid it in formal writing because of its casual, regional tone.

Words with a similar meaning

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