Word.ws English Dictionary

DLL hell

DLL hell noun: problems caused by incompatible versions of a DLL (dynamic-link library).

Noun

DLL hell (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Problems caused by incompatible versions of a DLL (dynamic-link library).
    • A more succinct way to say this is that the versioning the CLR enforces for strong-named assemblies means the end of DLL hell.2002, David Chappell, Understanding .NET: A Tutorial and Analysis
    • Another feature of Windows 2000 or later Windows operating systems that deals with DLL Hell is file protection: system DLLs are protected...2006, Nagel et al, Professional C# 2005

Questions about DLL hell

What does DLL hell mean?
DLL hell means problems caused by incompatible versions of a DLL (dynamic-link library).
What part of speech is DLL hell?
DLL hell is a noun.

Words near DLL hell in the dictionary

  1. DLH
  2. DLI
  3. DLing
  4. DLJ
  5. DLL
  6. DLL hell
  7. DLLME
  8. DLLs
  9. DLN
  10. DLNA
  11. DLNs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: DLL hell (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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