Infernalism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Belief in the existence of hell, especially as a place of eternal and conscious torment after death. countable, uncountable
"To these conceptions Protestant churches will gradually yield, and while still nominally the same in their faith, its infernalism will disappear, and the idea of future punishment will become a rational instead of a diabolical picture of Divine justice."
- 2 Hellishness. countable, dated, uncountable
"It is because worship has been slavishly bestowed on the personification of the worst of the human qualities magnified to infernalism, that it has been considered a degrading, or at least a pusilanimous thing […]"
- 3 An infernal thing or act. countable, dated, uncountable
"Is not the State an infernal institution? Why expect from it, then, anything but infernalisms?"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"To these conceptions Protestant churches will gradually yield, and while still nominally the same in their faith, its infernalism will disappear, and the idea of future punishment will become a rational instead of a diabolical picture of Divine justice."
Etymology
From infernal + -ism. First attested in 1795, popularised in the theological sense in the 2000s–10s.
More for "infernalism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.