Definitions for underworldˈʌn dərˌwɜrld

This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word underworld

Random House Webster's College Dictionary

un•der•worldˈʌn dərˌwɜrld(n.)

  1. the criminal element of human society.

    Category: Sociology

  2. (in the religious beliefs of various cultures, esp. the ancient Greeks and Romans) a realm below the surface of the earth in which the spirits of the dead reside.

    Category: Mythology

  3. Archaic. the earth.

Origin of underworld:


Princeton's WordNet

  1. underworld(noun)

    the criminal class

  2. Hell, Hades, infernal region, netherworld, Scheol, underworld(noun)

    (religion) the world of the dead


Kernerman English Learner's Dictionary

  1. underworld(noun)ˈʌn dərˌwɜrld

    the world of criminals and criminal activity

    the criminal underworld


  1. underworld(Noun)

    That part of society that is engaged in crime or vice.

  2. underworld(Noun)

    The world of the dead, located underneath the world of the living; the afterlife.

  3. Underworld(Noun)

    A name for the realm of ancestors in Heathenry.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Underworld(noun)

    the lower of inferior world; the world which is under the heavens; the earth

  2. Underworld(noun)

    the mythological place of departed souls; Hades

  3. Underworld(noun)


  4. Underworld(noun)

    the inferior part of mankind


  1. Underworld

    The underworld or netherworld is thought to be deep underground or beneath the surface of the world in most religions and mythologies. Typically it is a place where the souls of the recently departed go, an afterlife or a realm of the dead. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.

Translations for underworld

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary


the part of the population that gets its living from crime etc

A member of the underworld told the police where the murderer was hiding.

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