infernal

English

Etymology

From Middle French infernal, from Latin infernālis, from infernus (“below, subterranean”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ɪnˈfɜː(ɹ)nəl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɪnˈfəɹnəl/
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nəl

Adjective

infernal (comparative more infernal, superlative most infernal)

  1. Of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish.
  2. (by extension) Of or relating to a fire or inferno.
  3. Stygian, gloomy.
  4. Diabolical or fiendish.
    • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 34–36:
      Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
      Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd
      The Mother of Mankind
    • Addison
      the instruments or abettors in such infernal dealings
  5. (as an expletive, not vulgar) Very annoying; damned.
    • 1905, Bram Stoker, The Man
      As I had to put up with the patronage and the lecturings, and the eyeglass of that infernal old woman, […]

Antonyms

Translations
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Noun

infernal (plural infernals)

  1. (obsolete) An inhabitant of the infernal regions.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Drayton to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for infernal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin infernālis.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal/

Adjective

infernal (feminine singular infernale, masculine plural infernaux, feminine plural infernales)

  1. infernal (relating to hell)
  2. (figuratively) infernal, hellish, awful, terrible

Further reading

Old French

Etymology

From Latin infernālis

Adjective

infernal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular infernale)

  1. infernal (relating to hell)

Declension
Declension of infernal
Number Case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Subject infernals, infernaus, infernax infernale infernal
Oblique infernal infernale infernal
Plural Subject infernal infernales infernal
Oblique infernals, infernaus, infernax infernales infernal

Descendants

Portuguese

Adjective

infernal m or f (plural infernais, comparable)

  1. (Christianity) hellish; infernal (from or relating to hell)
  2. diabolical; evil; infernal

Synonyms

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin infernalis.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /inferˈnal/, [ĩɱferˈnal]

Adjective

infernal (plural infernales)

  1. infernal (of or relating to hell)
  2. infernal (diabolical, fiendish)
  3. infernal (very annoying, damned)

Further reading
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