inferno

/ɪnˈfʌrnoʊ/

/ɪnˈfʌnəʊ/

Other forms: infernos

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.

Definitions of inferno

1. noun

   a very intense and uncontrolled fire
   synonyms: conflagration

   types:

   wildfire

   a destructive burning that is raging and rapidly spreading

   type of:

   fire

   the event of something burning (often destructive)
2. noun

   any place of pain and turmoil
   “the inferno of the engine room”

   synonyms: hell, hell on earth, hellhole, snake pit, the pits

   type of:

   part, region

   the extended spatial location of something