Tartarus
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 a place where the wicked are punished after death wordnet
- 1 A dark and gloomy part of the realm of Hades, reserved for the damned and the wicked, such as the Titans; an equivalent of hell in Greek and Roman mythology. Greek, Roman
"[…] them with Fire and hoſtile Arms / Fearleſs aſſault, and to the brow of Heav'n / Purſuing, drive them out from God and bliſs, / Into thir place of puniſhment, the Gulf / Of Tartarus, which ready opens wide / His fiery Chaos to receave thir fall."
- 2 Any hellish place; a dark gloomy chasm or pit. figuratively
"We lay there hour after hour in terror and misery of mind so deep that I will not attempt to describe it, and listened to the wild storm-voices of that Tartarus, as, set to the deep undertone of the spur opposite against which the wind hummed like some awful harp, they called to each other from precipice to precipice."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The Gods banished Tom to Tartarus and cursed him and his family."
Etymology
From Latin Tartarus, from Ancient Greek Τάρταρος (Tártaros).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.