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abandon hope, all ye who enter here

abandon hope, all ye who enter here phrase: supposed inscription at the gate of hell.

abandon hope, all ye who enter here: supposed inscription at the gate of hell
Image: Pico Master, active 1460-1505, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Phrase

abandon hope, all ye who enter here

  1. Supposed inscription at the gate of hell.
    • “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,” was by no means written above its gateways.1898, Justin H[untly] McCarthy, The French Revolution, volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 2
    • A sincere desire to render our Republican friends—a majority of whom we love—a real service and save them real money impels us to warn them that if their high command sends national funds to West Virginia for campaign purposes in 1952, the bearers of their money bags will find at the border line of...1952 May 27, Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82ᵈ Congress, Second Session, volume 98, part 5, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, page 6017, column 1

Examples of abandon hope, all ye who enter here in a sentence

  • It seems to me that it might as well have a sign on the door, saying ‘Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.’ If I go there, I know I’ll be buying a one-way ticket.2002, Levi Meier, Seven Heavens: Inspirational Stories to Elevate Your Soul, Devora Publishing, →ISBN, page 185:
  • A decent and free society, founded in respect for the individual, ought not to run a system with a sign at the entrance for inmates saying, "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here."2004, Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, and the Identity Theft Investigation and Prosecution Act of 2003: Hearing Before the...
  • "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here," the plaque on the Frolic Room door says.2005, Jade Blackmore, Close But No Pizza, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 37:
  • Visitors enter through a set of huge wrought-iron gates decorated with basalt statues writhing in agony and the famous phrase ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE.2006, Karen Chance, Touch the Dark, Penguin, →ISBN:

Forms of abandon hope, all ye who enter here

alternative formabandon hope
alternative formabandon all hope, ye who enter here
alternative formabandon all hope ye who enter here
alternative formabandon hope all ye who enter here
alternative formall hope abandon, ye who enter here
alternative formall hope abandon ye who enter here

Origin of abandon hope, all ye who enter here

From Dante Alighieri's work Inferno, translated by Henry Francis Cary as “all hope abandon ye who enter here”, from the Italian lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate. The variant “abandon hope, all ye who enter here”, with a change of meaning, was likely chosen for its iambic pentameter.

Questions about abandon hope, all ye who enter here

What does abandon hope, all ye who enter here mean?
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here means supposed inscription at the gate of hell.
How do you use abandon hope, all ye who enter here in a sentence?
It seems to me that it might as well have a sign on the door, saying ‘Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.’ If I go there, I know I’ll be buying a one-way ticket.
What part of speech is abandon hope, all ye who enter here?
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here is a phrase.

Words near abandon hope, all ye who enter here in the dictionary

  1. abanding
  2. Abando
  3. abandon
  4. abandon all hope ye who enter here
  5. abandon all hope, ye who enter here
  6. abandon hope, all ye who enter here
  7. abandon ship
  8. abandon'd
  9. abandonability
  10. abandonable
  11. abandoned

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: abandon hope, all ye who enter here (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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