snake pit

1. 1.

   any place of pain and turmoil

   “the hell of battle”

   “the inferno of the engine room”

   “when you're alone Christmas is the pits”

   Synonymshellhell on earthhellholethe pitsinferno

   Broaderregion
2. 2.

   pejorative terms for an insane asylum

   SynonymsBedlambooby hatchcrazy housecuckoo's nestfunny farmfunny houseloony binmadhousenut housenuthousesanatorium

   Broadermental hospital

Questions about snake pit

What does snake pit mean?

snake pit means "any place of pain and turmoil". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for snake pit?

Close synonyms include hell, hell on earth, hellhole, the pits, inferno. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is snake pit a common word?

snake pit is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.