infernal
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Related to the event of something burning.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnfurnuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnˈfɝnəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish.
by extension
Of or relating to a fire or inferno.
as an expletive
Of or pertaining to or characteristic of a very uncontrolled and intense fire
as an expletive
Very annoying; damned.
Diabolical or fiendish.
Stygian, gloomy.
noun
An inhabitant of Hell
“His roar made the infernals quake.”
An inhabitant of the infernal regions, a demon.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish.
Used this way, infernal is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A bomb that has a detonating mechanism that can be set to go off at a particular time.
The abode of Satan and the forces of evil.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.