inferno

[in-fur-noh, een-fer-naw]

noun

plural

infernos 

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.

   Synonyms: oven, hellhole, furnace

3. (initial capital letter, italics),  the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting hell and the suffering of the damned.

inferno

/ ɪnˈfɜːnəʊ /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) hell; the infernal region

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

Inferno

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of inferno¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of inferno¹

C19: from Italian, from Late Latin infernus hell

Example Sentences

She blames Los Angeles fire officials for not doing more to prevent it from flaring into the inferno that tore through the community days later.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Ash still clings to the windowsills of the gray home in Altadena, nine months after an inferno ripped the community apart.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

To the north, a sickly orange haze hung along the horizon, a reminder of the inferno that had reduced parts of their school to a ragged tangle of charred masonry, metal and wood.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

As the Allies gained the upper hand, the names of certain cities went into history for their bomb-generated firestorms and then radioactive infernos.

Read more on Salon

They were filled with workers who had sought sanctuary from the inferno.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• purgatory