in ‧ fer ‧ no /ɪnˈfɜːnəʊ $ -ɜːrnoʊ/ BrE AmE noun ( plural infernos ) [countable]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Language: Italian ; Origin: 'hell' , from Late Latin infernus ; ⇨ ↑ infernal ]
1 . an extremely large and dangerous fire – used especially in news reports
raging/blazing inferno
Within minutes, the house had become a raging inferno.
2 . literary when someone has very strong feelings that are difficult to control:
She was desperately trying to calm the inferno raging within her.
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THESAURUS
▪ fire flames that burn in an uncontrolled way and destroy or damage things:
In April, a fire at the school destroyed the science block.
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a forest fire
▪ flames the bright parts of a fire that you see burning in the air:
The flames from the burning building were lighting up the night sky.
▪ blaze written a large and dangerous fire – used especially in news reports:
Firemen fought to keep the blaze under control.
▪ inferno written an extremely large and dangerous fire which is out of control – used especially in news reports:
The entire building was on fire and hundreds of people were trapped in the inferno.
▪ conflagration /ˌkɒnfləˈɡreɪʃ ə n $ ˌkɑːn-/ formal a very large fire that destroys a lot of buildings, trees etc:
The conflagration spread rapidly through the old town.