inferno
noun /ɪnˈfɜːnəʊ/
/ɪnˈfɜːrnəʊ/
[usually singular] (plural infernos)
- a very large dangerous fire that is out of control
- a blazing/raging inferno
- The flames quickly turned the house into a raging inferno.
- Three men managed to escape from the inferno.
Word Originmid 19th cent.: from Italian, from Christian Latin infernus ‘below, underground’, used by Christians to mean ‘hell’, on the pattern of inferni (masculine plural) ‘the shades’ and inferna (neuter plural) ‘the lower regions’.