fire and brimstone

noun

Definition of fire and brimstonenext
as in pit

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fire and brimstone How to commemorate a religious sect that was unique, tolerant, forward-thinking, unjustly antagonized—but also short-lived, cultish, poorly documented, and fixated on fire and brimstone? — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025 From his pulpit, Wicks rains down selectively vituperative fire and brimstone, with an eye toward provoking walkouts from unsuspecting visitors—say, a gay couple or a single mom. — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2025 Writer-director Rian Johnson, 51, offers not one but two clerics – Josh O’Connor’s young priest and Josh Brolin’s fire and brimstone grey-bearded Monsignor – plus Glenn Close’s indispensable church lady in an upstate New York small-town community. — Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald, 23 Nov. 2025 And as this season has spiraled, it’s failed to bring out any fire and brimstone. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fire and brimstone
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fire and brimstone
  1. pit
  2. hellfire
  3. abyss
  4. perdition
Noun
  • The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors’ 4th District race pits outgoing State Board of Equalization member Ted Gaines against first-time candidate Gina Posey.
    — Haley Parsley October 2, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • But none of those cowards should be in a pit lane in the foreseeable future.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of pit
Noun
  • This is, of course, the conception of fundamentalist theology, which threatens eternal hellfire for anyone who defies its commandments.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Should designers, who work in an industry that is one of the biggest culprits for greenhouse gas emissions, at least be making clothes that people could reasonably aspire to wear in the hellfire summers to come?
    — Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 29 June 2026
Definition of hellfire
Noun
  • Just beyond the marks, the abyss fell away for hundreds of feet.
    — Peter Hessler, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
  • What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss.
    — Isabelle Farina, Variety, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of abyss
Noun
  • The flames of perdition, fueled by guilt, estrangement, and repression, lap at society’s sham institutions and flimsy fronts of civility.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
  • On one page, tiny, antlike sinners tumbled down a cliff toward perdition.
    — Laura Preston, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of perdition

Browse Nearby Words

fire
fire and brimstone
fire and brimstones
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fire and brimstone.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fire%20and%20brimstone. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All