reform school

Definition of reform school

: a reformatory for boys or girls

Examples of reform school in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Another was a juvenile at the time of the attack and was sentenced to three years in a reform school. — Washington Post, "7 years after Delhi gang rape, brutal India attacks continue," 16 Dec. 2019 Kaduna state governor Nasir el-Rufai ordered the raid on the Islamic reform school in Rigasa, officials said. — Washington Post, "World Digest: Oct. 19, 2019," 19 Oct. 2019 And, for the boys sentenced to a reform school in the Jim Crow South, how few avenues there are to escape it. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead at USD to talk about new book, ‘The Nickel Boys’," 8 Sep. 2019 The move comes after the state legislature passed House Bill 3, an $11.5 billion law that reformed school finance and reduced property taxes in June. — Chris Shelton, Houston Chronicle, "Humble ISD makes major tax-rate cut after bump state funding," 11 Sep. 2019 Jim DeNyke, who as a teen from Orange County was sent to the reform school in 1964, said there are more than 180 names of students who have not been accounted for. — Jim Turner, orlandosentinel.com, "Search for bodies isn’t over at Florida’s infamous Dozier School for Boys," 27 Aug. 2019 As a young black man in the Jim Crow South, Elwood Curtis makes a minor mistake that ends up costing him gravely, landing him in an abusive reform school. — Locke Hughes, NBC News, "20 end-of-summer beach reads for 2019," 30 Aug. 2019 As a result of his behavior, Charles ended up spending much of his childhood in reform schools and other facilities for delinquent boys. — Heather Finn, Good Housekeeping, "Charles Manson: The Chilling True Story of the Manson Family and the 1969 Manson Murders," 10 Aug. 2019 Many of them were buried in unmarked graves, graves found only after the brutal reform school was finally closed in 2011. — Constance Grady, Vox, "Colson Whitehead’s spare, riveting, horrifying Nickel Boys," 18 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'reform school.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

17 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Reform school.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reform%20school. Accessed 20 January 2020.

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