Synonyms of reformatory

reformatory 1 of 2

adjective

ri-ˈfȯr-mə-ˌtȯr-ē 

as in reformative

serving to raise or adjust something to some standard or proper condition

the belief that manual labor was a reformatory experience for convicted felons, who would learn the value of hard work

Synonyms & Similar Words

• reformative
• corrective
• beneficial
• remedial
• amendatory
• rectifying
• therapeutic
• remedying
• reparative
• curative
• medicinal
• helpful
• restorative
• salutary
• wholesome
• counteractive
• antidotal
• counterbalancing

reformatory

2 of 2

noun

as in reform school

Related Words

• reform school
• dungeon
• training school
• gulag
• oubliette
• keep
• prison camp
• concentration camp
• stalag
• labor camp
• guardhouse
• work camp
• penitentiary
• prison
• ward
• jail
• glasshouse
• cage
• stockade
• calaboose
• tank
• cell
• jailhouse
• lockup
• bridewell
• brig
• bull pen
• slammer
• hulk(s)
• block
• pen
• hoosegow
• guardroom
• bastille
• pokey
• hock
• cooler
• coop
• big house
• clink
• jug
• tolbooth
• stir
• quod
• joint
• nick
• hole
• slam
• can
• hold

Dissimilar Words

• outside

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of reformatory

Adjective

While Spanish Catholicism and reformatory Protestantism favored black clothing, much of the Renaissance happened in an explosion of color. — JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024

His mother sent him to the Élan School in Maine, a reformatory boarding institution with extreme forms of discipline, including shouting sessions and boxing matches, that attracted widespread criticism and that led to the school’s closing in 2011. — Alex Traub, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024

Noun

The Koskinen baby was reunited with his mother, and Marzano went to a reformatory. — Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 3 May 2025

Due’s novel follows a 12-year-old boy in the 1950s sentenced to an infamous reformatory where ghosts in the halls tell stories about the boys that have been abused and gone missing there. — Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2025