Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A place or condition suggestive of hell, especially with respect to human suffering or death.
- noun A place of fiery heat or destruction.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Hell; the infernal regions.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The infernal regions; hell.
- noun A raging fire.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Hell -like place or situation. - noun A large
fire , aconflagration (Wikipedia)
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment
- noun any place of pain and turmoil
- noun a very intense and uncontrolled fire
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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No one told the workers on the 9th floor, who were trapped behind locked doors in what can only be described as an inferno.
Richard Greenwald: Lessons from History Richard Greenwald 2011
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You could see one of the worst qualities of life on the planet, but in this inferno was an enterprising population that worked like ants.
French Word-A-Day: 2008
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You could see one of the worst qualities of life on the planet, but in this inferno was an enterprising population that worked like ants.
French Word-A-Day: 2008
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You could see one of the worst qualities of life on the planet, but in this inferno was an enterprising population that worked like ants.
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They say the inferno was a mass suicide orchestrated by Koresh, who had predicted an attack and told followers to be ready to die for him in a fire that would take them all to heaven.
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MARQUEZ: One Forest Service official calls the inferno a tornado made flames with a will of its own.
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All that was needed to turn the deck into an inferno was a spark, and Zavala was glad to provide one.
SERPENT CLIVE CUSSLER 2000
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All that was needed to turn the deck into an inferno was a spark, and Zavala was glad to provide one.
SERPENT CLIVE CUSSLER 2000
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Mingled with the desire that raged within him like an inferno was a cold, bitter anger stemming from the knowledge that he would be neither the first nor the last man to possess her.
MEMORY’S EMBRACE Linda Lael Miller 1986
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Mingled with the desire that raged within him like an inferno was a cold, bitter anger stemming from the knowledge that he would be neither the first nor the last man to possess her.
MEMORY’S EMBRACE Linda Lael Miller 1986
skipvia commented on the word inferno
Dante's vision of Hell and environs qualifies as the devil's playground. See Free Association.
February 5, 2008