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• inferno
  inferno

  noun

  hell; the infernal regions.
• Inferno
  Inferno

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

inferno

American  

[in-fur-noh, een-fer-naw] / ɪnˈfɜr noʊ, inˈfɛr nɔ /

noun

• infernos
  plural

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.

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inferno British  

/ ɪnˈfɜːnəʊ /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) hell; the infernal region

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

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Inferno Cultural  

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

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Discover More

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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• infernos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of inferno

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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

inferno Inferno infernos

The chips were made from trees killed in the 2020 Castle fire, an inferno that left thousands of acres of standing dead trunks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 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

"It was like the scenes of the Blitz, just a blazing inferno, the flames were moving so quickly," she said.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

The laundry was a humid inferno, the work as monotonous as it was uncomfortable.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hal likens Soldiers & Sailors to Dante’s Inferno, a place where souls are damned to eternally relive their most terrible experiences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Dante Alighieri's Inferno may contain more than religious symbolism and poetic imagination.

From Science Daily ● May 11, 2026

He snagged roles in "Roots," "The Klansman" and "The Towering Inferno."

From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2024

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

However, she had already made a false start with Dante’s Inferno and had to abandon reading it partway through, and she did not want to repeat this misstep with the Hesperus.

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood

Gone are the days of not decontaminating equipment, leaving the ashes on helmets and jackets, in order to boast of past infernos.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

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

It notably does not include forest lost to fires, but after a record fire season in 2024, the country was relatively spared major infernos last year.

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

The volume of the infernos roar also died down enough that he could hear the crunching sounds of his footsteps again.

From "The Kill Order (Maze Runner, Book Four; Origin)" by James Dashner

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