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Help vs Hell - What's the difference?

help | hell |

As a noun help

is (uncountable) action given to provide assistance; aid.

As a verb help

is to provide assistance to (someone or something).

As a proper noun hell is

.

help

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) Action given to provide assistance; aid.
  • I need some help with my homework.
  • (usually, uncountable) Something or someone which provides assistance with a task.
  • He was a great help to me when I was moving house.
    I've printed out a list of math helps .
  • Documentation provided with computer software, etc. and accessed using the computer.
  • I can't find anything in the help about rotating an image.
  • (usually, uncountable) One or more people employed to help in the maintenance of a house or the operation of a farm or enterprise.
  • The help is coming round this morning to clean.
    Most of the hired help is seasonal, for the harvest.
  • (uncountable, euphemistic) Correction of deficits, as by psychological counseling or medication or social support or remedial training.
  • His suicide attempts were a cry for help .
    He really needs help in handling customer complaints.
    ''"He's a real road-rager." / "Yup, he really needs help , maybe anger management."
    Usage notes
    The sense "people employed to help in the maintenance of a house" is usually an uncountable mass noun. A countable form - "a hired help''", "''two hired helps " - is attested, but now less common.
    Synonyms
    * (action given to provide assistance) aid, assistance * (person or persons who provide assistance) * (person employed to help in the maintenance of a house)
    Derived terms
    * cry for help * help desk * helpful * helpless * helpline * helply * helpmate * helpmeet * helpsome * home help * self-help

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) helpen, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To provide assistance to (someone or something).
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • To contribute in some way to.
  • To provide assistance.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=19 citation , passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help , and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • To avoid; to prevent; to refrain from; to restrain (oneself). Usually used in nonassertive contexts with can .
  • Usage notes
    * Use 3 is often used in the imperative mood as a call for assistance. * In uses 1, 2 and 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . It can also take the bare infinitive with no change in meaning. * In use 4, can't help is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) or, with but, the bare infinitive. * For more information, see
    Synonyms
    * (provide assistance to) aid, assist, come to the aid of, help out * (contribute in some way to) contribute to * (provide assistance) assist
    Derived terms
    * a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down * can't help * helper * helping * help oneself * help out

    hell

    English

    (wikipedia hell)

    Alternative forms

    * (Christianity) Hell * *

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • In various religions, the place where some or all spirits are believed to go after death
  • Do Muslims believe that all non-Muslims go to hell ?
  • (Abrahamic religions, uncountable) The place where devils live and where sinners are tortured after death
  • May you rot in hell !
  • * 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost
  • Better to reign in Hell' than serve in ' Heaven .
  • * 1916 , James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  • Hell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.

    Synonyms

    * (euphemisms for Christian place for damned souls after death) Hades, heck, infernal region, inferno, netherworld, underworld * (Mormonism) Spirit]] [[prison, Prison

    Antonyms

    * (sense) heaven

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (countable, hyperbole) A place or situation of great suffering in life.
  • My new boss is making my job a hell .
    I went through hell to get home today.
  • * 1879 , General William T. Sherman, commencement address at the Michigan Military Academy
  • There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell .
  • *
  • (countable) A place for gambling.
  • * W. Black
  • a convenient little gambling hell for those who had grown reckless
  • * 1907 , (Joseph Conrad), The Secret Agent
  • An extremely hot place.
  • You don't have a snowball's chance in hell .
  • (Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun)
  • I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more.
    What the hell is wrong with you?
    He says he's going home early? Like hell he is.
  • (obsolete) A place into which a tailor throws his shreds, or a printer his broken type.
  • (Hudibras)
  • In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
  • Derived terms

    * as hell * forty minutes of hell * hell and half of Georgia * hella * hellagood * hell-fire * hell for leather * hell hath no fury like a woman scorned * hellish * hell on earth * hell on wheels * hell's delight * hellspawn * hell to pay * hell week * like hell * living hell * no screaming hell * the hell * the hell out of * the hell with it * to hell with * what the hell

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Oh, hell ! I got another parking ticket.
  • Hell , yeah!

    See also

    * damn * heck English intensifiers English swear words ----