inferno

[ in-fur-noh; for 3 also Italian een-fer-naw ]
See synonyms for inferno on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural in·fer·nos.
  1. hell; the infernal regions.

  2. a place or region that resembles hell: The ironworks was an inferno of molten steel and half-naked bodies.

  1. (initial capital letter, italics) the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting hell and the suffering of the damned.: Compare paradise (def. 7), purgatory (def. 2).

Origin of inferno

1
1825–35; <Italian <Late Latin infernus hell, noun use of Latin infernus;see infernal

Other words for inferno

Words Nearby inferno

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use inferno in a sentence

  • Coronado inwardly cursed himself for venturing into this inferno, the haunting place of devils in human shape.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • It was such an abyss as no artist has ever hinted, excepting Doré in his picturings of Dante's "inferno."

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • Under the steam cloud was an inferno, but it was only occasionally visible as the wind tore rents in the vapor.

    The Flaming Mountain | Harold Leland Goodwin
  • It seems hardly necessary to refer the reader to Dante, inferno, xxxiii.

  • Thus to recall the witches' cauldron and the fires of the inferno had an unfailing success as a stimulant to eloquence.

    Vie de Bohme | Orlo Williams

British Dictionary definitions for inferno

inferno

/ (ɪnˈfɜːnəʊ) /


nounplural -nos
  1. the inferno (sometimes capital) hell; the infernal region

  2. any place or state resembling hell, esp a conflagration

Origin of inferno

1
C19: from Italian, from Late Latin infernus hell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Inferno

Inferno

The first section of The Divine Comedy, by Dante. Inferno is the Italian word for “hell.”

Notes for Inferno

By extension, an “inferno” is a hot and terrible place or condition.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.