infernal region
1
9.9
- noun
- /ɪnˈfɜrnəl ˈriːdʒən/
- Literature
- According to many belief systems, the souls of the wicked are sent to the infernal region after death.
Examples
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♪ life is like a music hall, yeah oh, prepare to enter hell, Elura, the netherworld, the abode of the dead, the infernal regions.
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The infernal regions.
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It's a marriage made somewhere south of heaven and north of the infernal regions.
Blog text (18) -
Until today... ...my only experience at welcoming has been... ...to welcome Germans and Italians to the infernal region.
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And when, in 1900, Freud introduced his work to the world in The Interpretation of Dreams, he began with that great epigraph from Virgil that said it all: "If I cannot bend the gods above, then I will move the infernal regions."
Academic text (1990) -
He absorbs the true import of the sign, which signals the territory as a threshold to the infernal region but also specifically damns Ofeyi.
Academic text (2008) -
In various cultures, the concept of the infernal region serves as a warning against sin and wrongdoing.
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In literature, characters often journey to the infernal region as a metaphor for facing their deepest fears.
Synonyms
65
9.9
A place of punishment and suffering after death in Christian belief
64
2.1
A place after death where the dead are punished in some religions
61
7.2
A place where souls go after death in myths
36
8.4
The place of the dead in Greek myths where souls go after death
14
9.9
A deep, dark place under the earth where very bad souls are punished forever after death
10
9.9
A state of never ending suffering after death, like hell
9
8.8
A dark world below the earth where the dead live
6
8.8
A place of punishment after death for very bad people in Christian belief
2
8.7
A place believed to be for punishment after death or a very bad situation
1
9.9
A place where the dead live in ancient Hebrew belief
1
9.1
A place of fire and suffering where bad people are punished after death
Antonyms
How Punishing
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'infernal' (hellish, relating to Hell) + 'region' (an area), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a hellish place or underworld. This follows a straightforward adjective+noun composition that is cross-linguistically common, making the expression immediately comprehensible from its parts.
Etymology
Infernal region may come from old words that mean 'below' and 'place', with infernal suggesting 'below' and region meaning 'area', giving a picture of a lower world where the dead are punished. That's why it now means 'the underworld' or 'a place of punishment'.