Heck is a state of being in the afterlife, according to certain (sometimes ironic) religious philosophies. It is generally presented as the place where the souls of deceased people who were somewhat sinful - but not bad enough to warrant the eternal torment of Hell - are punished. To others, it is merely a euphemism for Hell.

According to some believers, it is a temporary punishment, to teach the soul a lesson, similar to the traditional Catholic concept of Purgatory. Others conceive of it as permanent and eternal like Hell, but not as unpleasant, marked more by boredom, sadness, and loss than pain and suffering; this model is similar to the ancient Greek conception of the underworld realm of Hades. The unifying concept is an appeal to a common sense of justice suggesting that milder punishments should be meted out for milder wrongdoing. The name is taken from the popular euphemism for the profane word Hell.

One humorous example of this concept in popular literature is in the comic strip Dilbert, in which a character named Phil, The Prince of Insufficient Light is the ruler of Heck, and appears periodically to inflict mild punishments upon characters for their moderate transgressions.

Another view in humorous light, is that Heck being lesser than Hell is ruled by Satan's less evil brother 'Stan'. Which of course is just dropped the first 'a'.