nether world

neth·er·world

also nether world (nĕth′ər-wûrld′)

n.

1. The world of the dead.

2. A situtation in which one's status is uncertain, marginal, or undefined: "He was caught in the netherworld between the lowest levels of minor league baseball and the highest level of amateur play" (Tim Wakefield with Tony Massarotti). "She grew up in a kind of a class netherworld, not quite her father's daughter, not quite a servant" (Nina Sovich).

3. The part of society engaged in crime and vice: "Once they found themselves on the streets, they fell very quickly into the criminal netherworld" (Anne Applebaum).

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neth′er·world′ly adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

nether world

or

netherworld

n

1. the world after death; the underworld

2. hell

3. a criminal underworld

Also called (for senses 1, 2): nether regions

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

neth′er world`

or neth′er•world`,

n.

1. the infernal regions; hell.

2. the criminal underworld.

[1630–40]

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Translations

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