inferno
nounattested in dialogue
- United States//ɪnˈfɝnoʊ//
A place or situation resembling Hell.
noun
- 1
A place or situation resembling Hell.
At each sudden explosion in the inferno below they sprang back from the brink [of the volcanic crater].
When Jurgis had first inspected the packing plants with Szedvilas, he […] found that each one of these lesser industries was a separate little inferno, in its way as horrible as the killing beds, the source and fountain of them all[, and t]he workers in each of them had their own peculiar diseases.
- 2
A large fire; a conflagration.
The inferno ripped through the forest, destroying anything in its path.
Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.
Unfortunately for Admiral Kurita, this is where the good news ends. The fire started by New Jerseys hit amidships has spread, and there is now a towering inferno' that occupies the middle third of the Japanese battleship.
Etymology
From Italian inferno (“hell”), from Latin infernus (“of the lower regions”), inferna (“the lower regions”); see infernal. The meaning "big fire" came as a figurative use from the traditional idea of hellfire.
Forms
- plural
- infernos