hellfire
Americannoun
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the fire of hell.
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punishment in hell.
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Military. Hellfire, a laser-guided U.S. Army antiarmor missile designed for launch from a helicopter.
noun
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the torment and punishment of hell, envisaged as eternal fire
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(modifier) characterizing sermons or preachers that emphasize this aspect of Christian belief
hellfire evangelism
Etymology
Origin of hellfire
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English helle fȳr; see hell, fire
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Perhaps that heat he feels is not the warmth of success, but the hellfire of the demon’s fury.
From Salon • Sep. 12, 2025
The online opinions didn’t stop at hellfire, however.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2024
The ancients thought Earth’s center was hollow: the home of Hades or hellfire, or a realm of tunnels that heated ocean waters.
From Science Magazine • Mar. 30, 2022
But this orchestra has been playing it much longer — since its first concert, in 1842 — and most recently has been trained to give it a hellfire treatment under van Zweden’s baton.
From New York Times • Mar. 4, 2022
She’d already finished most of the dragon’s mouth—its lips snarled back to reveal huge razor teeth around an explosion of hellfire.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
