Adjacent Words

Infernal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INFERN'AL, a. [L. infernus.]
1. Properly, pertaining to the lower regions, or regions of the dead, the Tartarus of the ancients. Hence,
2. Pertaining to hell; inhabiting hell; as infernal spirits.
3. Hellish; resembling the temper of infernal spirits; malicious; diabolical; very wicked and detestable.
INFERN'AL, n. An inhabitant of hell, or of the lower regions.
Infernal stone [Lapis infernalis.] a name formerly given to lunar caustic, a substance prepared from an evaporated solution of silver, or from crystals of silver.
Lunar caustic is nitrate of silver fused and cast in small cylinders.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: characteristic of or resembling Hell; "infernal noise"; "infernal punishment"
2: extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell; "something demonic in him--something that could be cruel"; "fires lit up a diabolic scene"; "diabolical sorcerers under the influence of devils"; "a fiendish despot"; "hellish torture"; "infernal instruments of war"; "satanic cruelty"; "unholy grimaces" [syn: demonic, diabolic, diabolical, fiendish, hellish, infernal, satanic, unholy]
3: expletives used informally as intensifiers; "he's a blasted idiot"; "it's a blamed shame"; "a blame cold winter"; "not a blessed dime"; "I'll be damned (or blessed or darned or goddamned) if I'll do any such thing"; "he's a damn (or goddam or goddamned) fool"; "a deuced idiot"; "an infernal nuisance" [syn: blasted, blame, blamed, blessed, damn, damned, darned, deuced, goddam, goddamn, goddamned, infernal]
4: of or pertaining to or characteristic of a very uncontrolled and intense fire; "infernal heat"
5: being of the underworld; "infernal regions" [ant: supernal] n
1: an inhabitant of Hell; "his roar made the infernals quake"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French enfernal, from Late Latin infernalis, from infernus hell, from Latin, lower, from inferus Date: 14th century 1. of or relating to a nether world of the dead 2. a. of or relating to hell b. hellish, diabolical 3. damnable <an infernal nuisance> • infernally adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 a of hell or the underworld. b hellish, fiendish. 2 colloq. detestable, tiresome. Derivatives: infernally adv. Etymology: ME f. OF f. LL infernalis f. L infernus situated below

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Infernal In*fer"nal, n. An inhabitant of the infernal regions; also, the place itself. [Obs.] --Drayton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Infernal In*fer"nal, a. [F. infernal, L. infernalis, fr. infernus that which lies beneath, the lower. See Inferior.] 1. Of or pertaining to or suitable for the lower regions, inhabited, according to the ancients, by the dead; pertaining to Pluto's realm of the dead, the Tartarus of the ancients. The Elysian fields, the infernal monarchy. --Garth. 2. Of or pertaining to, resembling, or inhabiting, hell; suitable for hell, or to the character of the inhabitants of hell; hellish; diabolical; as, infernal spirits, or conduct. The instruments or abettors in such infernal dealings. --Addison. Infernal machine, a machine or apparatus maliciously designed to explode, and destroy life or property. Infernal stone (lapis infernalis), lunar caustic; formerly so called. The name was also applied to caustic potash. Syn: Tartarean; Stygian; hellish; devilish; diabolical; satanic; fiendish; malicious.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Infernal is used to emphasize that something is very annoying or unpleasant. (OLD-FASHIONED) The post office is shut, which is an infernal bore... ADJ: ADJ n [emphasis] 2. Infernal is used to describe things that relate to hell. (LITERARY) ...the goddess of the infernal regions. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Hellish, Tartarean, Stygian, of hell. 2. Diabolical, devilish, demoniacal, fiendish, fiendlike, satanic, atrocious, nefarious, dark, damnable, accursed, abominable.

Moby Thesaurus

Acherontic, Draconian, Hadean, Lethean, Mephistophelian, Plutonian, Plutonic, Stygian, Tartarean, absolute, animal, anthropophagous, atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bestial, blamed, blasted, blessed, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, chthonian, chthonic, cimmerian, confounded, cruel, cruel-hearted, cursed, cussed, damnable, damned, demoniac, demoniacal, demonic, demonical, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, dire, downright, dreadful, evil, execrable, fell, feral, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, flagitious, ghoulish, heinous, hellborn, hellish, inhuman, inhumane, iniquitous, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, murderous, nether, out-and-out, outright, pandemoniac, pandemonic, plutonian, plutonic, purgatorial, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, sharkish, sinister, slavering, straight-out, stygian, subhuman, sulfurous, thoroughgoing, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, underworld, ungodly, unhuman, vicious, villainous, wicked, wolfish