Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for purgatory

purgatory

[ pur-guh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee ]

noun

, plural pur·ga·to·ries.
  1. (in the belief of Roman Catholics and others) a condition or place in which the souls of those dying penitent are purified from venial sins, or undergo the temporal punishment that, after the guilt of mortal sin has been remitted, still remains to be endured by the sinner.
  2. (initial capital letter, italics) Italian Pur·ga·to·rio [poo, r, -gah-, taw, -, r, yaw]. the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, in which the repentant sinners are depicted. Compare inferno ( def 3 ), paradise ( def 7 ).
  3. any condition or place of temporary punishment, suffering, expiation, or the like.


adjective

  1. serving to cleanse, purify, or expiate.

purgatory

/ ˈpɜːɡətərɪ; -trɪ /

noun

  1. RC Church a state or place in which the souls of those who have died in a state of grace are believed to undergo a limited amount of suffering to expiate their venial sins and become purified of the remaining effects of mortal sin
  2. a place or condition of suffering or torment, esp one that is temporary


purgatory

  1. In the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church , the condition of souls of the dead who die with some punishment (though not damnation ) due them for their sins. Purgatory is conceived as a condition of suffering and purification that leads to union with God in heaven . Purgatory is not mentioned in the Bible (see also Bible ); Catholic authorities defend the teaching on purgatory by arguing that prayer for the dead is an ancient practice of Christianity and that this practice assumes that the dead can be in a state of suffering — a state that the living can improve by their prayers.


Discover More

Notes

A “purgatory” is, by extension, any place of suffering, usually for past misdeeds.

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of purgatory1

First recorded in 1175–1225; (for the noun) Middle English purgatorie, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin pūrgātōrium, noun use of neuter of Late Latin pūrgātōrius “purging,” from pūrgā(re) “to purge” ( purge ) + -tōrius -tory 1; adjective derivative of the noun

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of purgatory1

C13: from Old French purgatoire, from Medieval Latin pūrgātōrium, literally: place of cleansing, from Latin pūrgāre to purge

Discover More

Example Sentences

The purgatory forces him to see what’s worst in both Patricia and himself.

For Plaid’s grand exit to fail, scuttled by a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit that promised to tie the deal up in purgatory for years to come, “is like the most 2020 thing to happen to a little startup,” bemoans a person close to the company.

From Fortune

That has left struggling tenants and their landlords in a state of purgatory, in which some renters cannot pay but their landlords cannot do anything about it.

Netflix missed on several metrics yesterday and was punished, and today Intel is joining the video streaming giant in stock-market purgatory.

Doing so would kick proceedings into judicial purgatory as the WTO’s rulings can’t be implemented until the appeals process is complete.

From Fortune

According to the playbill, the answer is neither heaven nor hell (nor purgatory).

Summer got us through our yearly Hell and Purgatory and led us to Heaven in June.

Flynn likens the journey of gay Iranians refugees to “eternal purgatory.”

For the past four years, Panahi has been left in a legal purgatory, known in Iran as the Execution of Verdict.

I wondered how many centuries of purgatory it would take to atone for such a sin.

Had they to return to purgatory by themselves—had the heavy white walking-stick to walk off without its owner?

If "war is hell," then to be in a strange country without credit and funds is certainly purgatory.

I'll give you the order of exercises of one of the last days of my purgatory, as I call it.

She wondered, rather idly, if she would spend her time in purgatory serving millions of Jane Ellens with iced tea.

She preferred possible purgatory to present imprisonment, and went back to her duty.

Advertisement

Related Words

Word of the Day

flabbergast

[flab-er-gast ]

Meaning and examples

Start each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!

By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


purgatorialpurge