1
as in inferno
a temporary place or state in which the souls of people who die make amends for their sins
It was a summer job that felt like purgatory to the teen.
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2
as in nightmare
a place or state of temporary suffering
We found ourselves trapped in the purgatory of a rush-hour traffic jam.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of purgatory
Some other taxpayers just miss a form to end up in audit purgatory.
—
Robert W. Wood, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025
Allina Health, a nonprofit based in Minnesota, denied care to patients, including children, with unpaid bills, placing them in a kind of medical debtors’ purgatory.
—Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2024
Club Death The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy is set in the purgatory of Tesfaye’s 2022 album, Dawn FM.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2024
Too often stuck in football purgatory, the Steelers appear again to be good enough to keep Tomlin’s non-losing season streak alive, but not good enough to make noise in the playoffs.
—Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for purgatory 
Robert W. Wood, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025
Allina Health, a nonprofit based in Minnesota, denied care to patients, including children, with unpaid bills, placing them in a kind of medical debtors’ purgatory.
—Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2024
Club Death The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy is set in the purgatory of Tesfaye’s 2022 album, Dawn FM.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2024
Too often stuck in football purgatory, the Steelers appear again to be good enough to keep Tomlin’s non-losing season streak alive, but not good enough to make noise in the playoffs.
—Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for purgatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purgatory
Noun
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Meanwhile, Angelenos continue to reel from the infernos.—
Sammy Roth,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Jan. 2025
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Many houses surrounding the trail were untouched by the inferno.—
Alicia Victoria Lozano,
NBC News,
26 Jan. 2025
Noun
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But the fairytale turns into a nightmare when Ivan’s handler (Karren Karagulian) and henchman (Yura Borisov) enter the picture.—
Jami Ganz,
New York Daily News,
26 Jan. 2025
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Title nightmare On a recent morning, Wade Clark stood in front of the shell of what used to be his home in Clearwater.—
Ben Wieder,
Miami Herald,
26 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The same netherworld where Julien enjoyed torturing Cortland during his statue days.—
Kathleen Walsh,
Vulture,
26 Jan. 2025
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Below that is the Futures tour, tennis’s vast netherworld of more than 2,000 true prospects and hopeless dreamers.—
Carolyn Wells,
Longreads,
8 July 2024
Noun
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Or their parents’ agony, night and day, for the past five years.—
David McGrath,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Jan. 2025
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Or their parents’ agony, day and night, for the past five years.—
David Mcgrath,
Orlando Sentinel,
26 Jan. 2025
Noun
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But soon, darkness descends on them as well: they are faced with the city’s criminal underworld.—
Marta Balaga,
Variety,
17 Jan. 2025
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Advertisement According to a report released over the weekend by Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Chinese agents have sought to use the Taiwanese underworld to channel funds to those with information to sell.—
Christopher Bodeen,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The verdict: Its flavor was nothing short of despicably vile, which made Orly’s nail-biting polish both a gift and a curse along my journey to end my bad habit.—
Jennifer Hussein,
Allure,
30 Jan. 2025
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The long-standing curse of the new-music concert is a tendency toward miscellany.—
Alex Ross,
The New Yorker,
27 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Having reached her breaking point, Kimmie slammed her car right into Body, a fellow stripper who spent the entirety of Part 1 making Kimmie’s life a living hell.—
Andy Swift,
TVLine,
30 Jan. 2025
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By Barry Levitt January 30, 2025 2:50 PM EST Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) went through hell in the Season 1 finale of Netflix’s The Recruit, barely making it out alive following an unsparingly violent mission.—
Barry Levitt,
TIME,
30 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Kaine said she’s grown wary of SpaceX’s response to the ordeal and the Starship program in general.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN,
30 Jan. 2025
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The entire ordeal was captured by multiple videos and placed online.—
Jonathan Granoff,
Newsweek,
29 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near purgatory
Cite this Entry
“Purgatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purgatory. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.
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