inferno
noun
hell; the infernal regions.
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inferno
American
[in-fur-noh, een-fer-naw]
/ ɪnˈfɜr noʊ, inˈfɛr nɔ /
noun
-
infernos
plural
inferno
British
/ ɪnˈfɜːnəʊ /
noun
-
(sometimes capital) hell; the infernal region
-
any place or state resembling hell, esp a conflagration
Inferno
Cultural
Discover More
By extension, an “inferno” is a hot and terrible place or condition.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of inferno
1825–35; < Italian < Late Latin infernus hell, noun use of Latin infernus; see infernal
Explanation
An inferno is a huge fire that's difficult to control, like an inferno that burns down a whole city block. Inferno also can describe any horrible place where people suffer. The Latin word infernus means "of the lower regions." Using inferno to mean "hell" is credited to medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy contains one part titled The Inferno, which tells of a journey through the nine circles of hell full of torture, pain, and imagery of red — flames, boiling blood, and so on.
Vocabulary lists containing inferno
Inferno Lingo: Fire Vocabulary
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This Week in Words: April 13–19, 2019
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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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.
See Examples For:
The inferno that resulted from Sunday’s crash was so large that it burned shrubs planted on the other side of the sidewalk, several feet away from where the car hit the tree.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Newsom had pushed for deeper changes to how wildfires are paid for, and who pays, when an electric utility’s equipment sparks a destructive inferno.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
When they start shooting a movie together, they begin to understand their connection to this ancient evil, and their place in a cyclical inferno wrought by absent parents and bad weather.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
He described the scene as an "inferno" as the blaze "ripped through" the properties.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
It rages within, a campfire and then an inferno, and my body is its fuel.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
By contrast, the Daily Mail opts for a much simpler single-word headline "Inferno" across a picture of burning houses in the West Midlands.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Dante Alighieri's Inferno may contain more than religious symbolism and poetic imagination.
From Science Daily ● May 11, 2026
The roughly 15,000-square-foot home was used as a filming location in the Oscar-winning movie ‘The Towering Inferno.’
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
Supposedly the inspiration for Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, the land here is a web of natural cracks in the rock that let a mix of steam and gasses reach the surface.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 2, 2024
We read Dante’s Inferno in English class, and I always thought it was odd that the very pit of hell is ice—the absence of all hope and light and love.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
But she wanted more focus on accountability for utilities that spark the infernos, such as bans on stock buybacks, and balked at limiting damages for survivors without more public debate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Across Spain, San Juan welcomes summer with infernos and midnight rituals.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Greek firefighters faced another day of battling flames in high-risk conditions for new ignitions on Friday as France and Spain hoped for reprieve from massive infernos that blackened swathes of terrain.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Such is the vast scale of the infernos ravaging France's south-western Gironde region, that it is not always obvious what direction the smoke is coming from.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The current carried infernos everywhere, and their bright blazes turned the water into swirling oranges and reds.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
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.
