infernal

• infernall (obsolete)

From Middle French infernal, from Medieval Latin infernalis, from Latin īnfernus, from īnferum (“netherworld, underworld, hell”), equivalent to inferno +‎ -al.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɜː(ɹ)nəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɝnəl/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nəl

infernal (comparative more infernal, superlative most infernal)

1. Of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish.

   Synonyms: hellish, helly, stygian; see also Thesaurus:infernal

   Antonyms: celestial, heavenly

   • 1965, Attila Zohar, Kings Cross Black Magic, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 119:

     He proffered a pact to Satan, calling upon the Fiend and working himself into a frenzy - but his infernal majesty failed to respond.

2. (by extension) Of or relating to a fire or inferno.

   Synonym: fiery

3. Stygian, gloomy.

   Synonyms: cimmerian, dusky, tenebrous; see also Thesaurus:dark

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

   • 1711 December 19 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, December 8, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 244; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     the instruments or abettors in such infernal dealings

     The spelling has been modernized.

5. (as an expletive) Very annoying; damned.

   Synonyms: blessed, bloody; see also Thesaurus: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, […]

   • 1982, Sharon Green, The Warrior Within, page 10:

     When are you ever going to learn to mind your own infernal business?

• inferno

infernal (plural infernals)

1. An inhabitant of the infernal regions, a demon.

“infernal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Learned borrowing from Latin īnfernālis.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.fɛʁ.nal/

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

1. (relational) hell; infernal
2. (figuratively) infernal, hellish, awful, terrible

• infernalement

• enfer

• “infernal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From Latin infernālis.

infernal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular infernale)

1. infernal (relating to hell)

• English: infernal
• French: infernal
• Norman: înfèrna

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: in‧fer‧nal

infernal m or f (plural infernais)

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

   Synonyms: mau, diabólico, maldoso

• infernalmente

• inferno

• “infernal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French infernal, from Latin infernalis. By surface analysis, infern +‎ -al.

• Audio:

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infernal m or n (feminine singular infernală, masculine plural infernali, feminine/neuter plural infernale)

1. infernal

From Latin īnfernālis.

• IPA^(key): /infeɾˈnal/ [ĩɱ.feɾˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: in‧fer‧nal

infernal m or f (masculine and feminine plural infernales)

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

• “infernal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025