Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The world of the dead.
  • noun The part of society engaged in crime and vice.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The place to which one's spirit descends upon death, conceived as below the surface of the earth.
  • noun The locale of the spirit world or afterlife, whether deemed to be situated below the world of the living or not.
  • noun Specifically, a location of punishment in the afterlife; a hell.
  • noun by extension A hidden, shadowy, or sinister subculture, such as that of organized crime.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (religion) the world of the dead

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From nether- (“beneath, lower”) +‎ world.

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Examples

  • Rhyme deduced the FBI man was referring to the netherworld of intelligence—government snooping agencies that might not technically have jurisdiction in the country but who can maneuver through loopholes to keep on top of possible malfeasance within the borders.

    The Burning Wire Jeffery Deaver 2010

  • Rhyme deduced the FBI man was referring to the netherworld of intelligence—government snooping agencies that might not technically have jurisdiction in the country but who can maneuver through loopholes to keep on top of possible malfeasance within the borders.

    The Burning Wire Jeffery Deaver 2010

  • After the Rannians executed him, a Rannian wizard named Mordorh discovered that when Molantans die, their spirits go to a "netherworld," from whence they can be brought back.

    Plan 9 From The 1983 Comic-Con, or Are You Smarter Than A DC Writer? | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • By the time issue #12 came along, readers had been to Rann, a "netherworld," and a Nazi-friendly alternate Earth (complete with Nazi Challengers of the Unknown).

    Plan 9 From The 1983 Comic-Con, or Are You Smarter Than A DC Writer? | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • Yes, its leaders may commit sin, after all, these leaders are just human, still capable of committing sin but as Jesus said it will not be conquered by the gates of the netherworld, meaning it will still continue to exist until the end of time.

    Archive 2008-06-22 de Brantigny........................ 2008

  • Yes, its leaders may commit sin, after all, these leaders are just human, still capable of committing sin but as Jesus said it will not be conquered by the gates of the netherworld, meaning it will still continue to exist until the end of time.

    Can Sin Destroy the Church? de Brantigny........................ 2008

  • As one of the bloggers who has been given credit for starting the blogswarm on the Congo rape epidemic, and as someone who has always, always questioned the way Africa has been portrayed as this "netherworld" of our worst nightmares or our most victimized victims see Africa: This Year's Entertainment and Decolonizing Feminism posts, I take these concerns very seriously.

    Why I Will Not Disavow the "Feminist" Label Anxious Black Woman 2008

  • But this whole kind of netherworld of sports memorabilia, what's legitimate, what's not, and this is probably a big part of his income right now.

    CNN Transcript Sep 16, 2007 2007

  • Once again, about 6: 30 in the evening, sunset at about 5: 50, and so the pilots would have been in that kind of netherworld time of dusk.

    CNN Transcript Nov 1, 2006 2006

  • And I don't know quote how this has been effected, but somehow I think dissenting voices have been kowtowed into, if not silenced, into a kind of netherworld, and aren't heard.

    CNN Transcript Mar 7, 2003 2003

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