purgatory

noun

pur·​ga·​to·​ry ˈpər-gə-ˌtȯr-ē 

plural purgatories

1

: an intermediate state after death for expiatory purification

specifically : a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God's grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven

2

: a place or state of temporary suffering or misery

Did you know?

Purgatory is the place where the soul is cleansed of all impurities, as Dante described in his great poem The Divine Comedy. Today purgatory can refer to any place or situation in which suffering and misery are felt to be sharp but temporary. Waiting to hear the results of a test, or whether you got a good job, can be a purgatory. And an endless after-dinner speech can make an entire roomful of people feel as if they're in purgatory.

Examples of purgatory in a Sentence

the purgatory of drug abuse

The marathons were jokingly referred to as one-day purgatories.

Recent Examples on the Web

All of that means those new deals and platforms that Sony was hoping for the beloved and money-making game shows are in legal purgatory for at least a month. —Dominic Patten, Deadline, 16 Apr. 2025

Moving From Pilots To Performance Many enterprises are stuck in proof-of-concept purgatory — touting dozens of pilots but deploying none. —Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025

Alas, going hard to the checkpoint is the only way to avoid basketball purgatory — the play-in tournament, where one’s stats don’t count, but the games do. —Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2025

Clean energy projects get trapped in litigation purgatory, delaying or killing them outright for years. —Rob Sisson and Danielle Franz, Boston Herald, 4 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin; Anglo-French purgatorie, from Medieval Latin purgatorium, from Late Latin, neuter of purgatorius purging, from Latin purgare

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for purgatory

• allegory
• amatory
• auditory
• category
• clerestory
• crematory
• desultory
• dilatory
• dormitory
• excretory
• extempore
• feudatory

Kids Definition

purgatory

noun

pur·​ga·​to·​ry ˈpər-gə-ˌtōr-ē 

-ˌtȯr-

plural purgatories

: a state after death in which according to Roman Catholic belief the souls of those who die in God's grace are purified of their sins by suffering