| / English Dictionary |
INFERNAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An inhabitant of Hell
Example:
his roar made the infernals quake
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("infernal" is a kind of...):
dead person; dead soul; deceased; deceased person; decedent; departed (someone who is no longer alive)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Expletives used informally as intensifiers
Example:
an infernal nuisance
Synonyms:
blame; blamed; blasted; blessed; damn; damned; darned; deuced; goddam; goddamn; goddamned; infernal
Classified under:
Similar:
cursed; curst (deserving a curse; sometimes used as an intensifier)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell
Example:
unholy grimaces
Synonyms:
demonic; diabolic; diabolical; fiendish; hellish; infernal; satanic; unholy
Classified under:
Similar:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Being of the underworld
Example:
infernal regions
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
chthonian; chthonic; nether (dwelling beneath the surface of the earth)
Hadean; Plutonian; Tartarean (of or relating to or characteristic of Hades or Tartarus)
Stygian (hellish)
Also:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Antonym:
supernal (being or coming from on high)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Characteristic of or resembling Hell
Example:
infernal punishment
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
inferno (any place of pain and turmoil)
Derivation:
Inferno ((Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment)
inferno (any place of pain and turmoil)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of or pertaining to or characteristic of a very uncontrolled and intense fire
Example:
infernal heat
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
inferno (a very intense and uncontrolled fire)
Derivation:
inferno (a very intense and uncontrolled fire)
Context examples:
Yahoo as I am, it is well known through all Houyhnhnmland, that, by the instructions and example of my illustrious master, I was able in the compass of two years (although I confess with the utmost difficulty) to remove that infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my species; especially the Europeans.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
You think you are omnipotent, you infernal scribblers, don't you?
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He read on: Then it was that—HEEP—began to favour me with just so much of his confidence, as was necessary to the discharge of his infernal business.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Wire if unable to come.—Sherlock Holmes.’ There, Watson, this infernal case has haunted me for ten days.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was only yesterday that we had an infernal Dutchman here howling about some arrears of interest and the deuce knows what. ‘My good fellow,’ said I, ‘as long as the Commons starve me, I have to starve you,’ and so the matter ended.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
My mouth was full of his beard, our arms were locked, our bodies intertwined, and that infernal chair radiated its legs all round us.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"You infernal bully!" I cried, as I gathered myself together.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"You infernal liar!" murmured Tarp Henry.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They will say that you are an infernal liar and a scientific charlatan, exactly as you and others said of me.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I'd clear out the whole infernal gang of them and leave this country a bit cleaner than we found it.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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