INFERNO

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Inferno mean? 

• INFERNO (noun)
  The noun INFERNO has 3 senses:

1. any place of pain and turmoil

2. a very intense and uncontrolled fire

3. (Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment

  Familiarity information: INFERNO used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFERNO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any place of pain and turmoil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

hell; hell on earth; hellhole; inferno; snake pit; the pits

Context example:

when you're alone Christmas is the pits

Hypernyms ("inferno" is a kind of...):

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Derivation:

infernal (characteristic of or resembling Hell)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A very intense and uncontrolled fire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

conflagration; inferno

Hypernyms ("inferno" is a kind of...):

fire (the event of something burning (often destructive))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inferno"):

wildfire (a raging and rapidly spreading conflagration)

Derivation:

infernal (of or pertaining to or characteristic of a very uncontrolled and intense fire)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

Hell; infernal region; Inferno; nether region; perdition; pit

Context example:

Hell is paved with good intentions

Hypernyms ("Inferno" is a kind of...):

fictitious place; imaginary place; mythical place (a place that exists only in imagination; a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings)

Domain category:

Christian religion; Christianity (a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Inferno"):

Gehenna; Tartarus (a place where the wicked are punished after death)

hellfire; red region (a place of eternal fire envisaged as punishment for the damned)

Derivation:

infernal (characteristic of or resembling Hell)

 Context examples 

And here, in this inferno of luggage, was White Fang deserted by the master.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“What ho! below there!” I heard Latimer shout down the scuttle, too cautious to descend into the inferno of passion he could hear raging beneath him in the darkness.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To find out, they constructed an artificial furnace designed to replicate the naturally occurring inferno during Earth's violent formation – melting rocks at 1,300°C (2,370 Fahrenheit) in oxygen-poor conditions.

(Fiery Collisions That Gave Birth to Earth Could Have Evaporated 40% of Our World, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And so, exalted, upborne by a sense of power, I turned my back on the howling inferno and climbed to the deck, where the fog drifted ghostly through the night and the air was sweet and pure and quiet.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)