Adjacent Words

underworld definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the criminal class
2: (religion) the world of the dead; "No one goes to Hades with all his immense wealth"-Theognis [syn: Hell, Hades, infernal region, netherworld, Scheol, underworld]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1598 1. the place of departed souls ; Hades 2. archaic earth 3. the side of the earth opposite to one ; antipodes 4. a social sphere below the level of ordinary life <the town's seedy underworld>; especially the world of organized crime

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the part of society comprising those who live by organized crime and immorality. 2 the mythical abode of the dead under the earth. 3 the antipodes.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Underworld Un"der*world`, n. 1. The lower of inferior world; the world which is under the heavens; the earth. That overspreads (with such a reverence) This underworld. --Daniel. 2. The mythological place of departed souls; Hades. 3. The portion of the world which is below the horizon; the opposite side of the world; the antipodes. [R.] Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, That brings our friends up from the underworld. --Tennyson. 4. The inferior part of mankind. [R.] --Atterbury.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. The underworld in a city is the organized crime there and the people who are involved in it. Some claim that she still has connections to the criminal underworld. ...a wealthy businessman with underworld connections. N-SING: oft N n, n N 2. In many ancient religions and legends, the underworld is a place under the earth's surface where people go after they die. ...Persephone, goddess of the underworld. N-SING: the N

Moby Thesaurus

Abaddon, Black Hand, Cosa Nostra, Dis, Gehenna, Hades, Hell, Naraka, Orcus, Pandemonium, Sheol, Tophet, abyss, avichi, bottomless pit, bowels, criminals, deep space, deeps, depths, gangdom, gangland, gaping depths, hades, hell, infernal pit, infernal regions, inferno, jahannan, limbo, lower world, nether world, netherworld, organized crime, outer space, perdition, place of torment, purgatory, shades below, the Mafia, the abyss, the bottomless pit, the grave, the mob, the pit, the rackets, the syndicate, the underworld, unfathomed deeps, unknown depths