1
as in infernos
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 nightmares
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purgatories
Noun
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For years, Billboard has tracked the graveyard smashes, thriller nights and legal nightmares that have sunk their teeth into the KILLboard Rot 100.—
Joe Lynch,
Billboard,
27 Oct. 2025 -
King is said to have had nightmares that night — his son running through endless hallways, pursued by a malevolent presence — inspiring the plot of the famous movie.—
Noreen Kompanik,
Boston Herald,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The protagonist's youth doesn't defang the story, as Silent Hill f wastes no time thrusting Hinako and her friends into their personal hells.—
Zackery Cuevas,
PC Magazine,
23 Sep. 2025
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All’s well that metal-as-hells well.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
27 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The source of a zombie outbreak can come from anywhere, including ancient curses and meteorites from space.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
17 Oct. 2025
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That mindset leads to no shortage of delightfully blasé supernatural adventures rife with magic and curses.—
Abby Monteil,
Them.,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
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For Aronofsky, the city’s ethnic blend has no special claim on virtue; there seem to be as many criminal underworlds as there are demographic groups.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The show’s intellectual horrors in no way dilute the on-screen gore, though.—
Andrew McGowan,
Variety,
27 Oct. 2025
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Pluribus is as dry, ironic, brutal, and alert to the horrors festering in no small number of human souls as anything he’s made.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In today’s housing market, even the lucky ones often face exhausting ordeals and need to stretch their budgets to land a home.—
Samantha Delouya,
CNN Money,
21 Oct. 2025
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Kruse and Fialko invested seven figures into rebuilding Priscilla’s brand, stabilizing her finances, settling her lawsuits, cleaning up numerous private family ordeals, and attempting to help Priscilla repair her relationship with her daughter.—
Michaela Zee,
Variety,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The alleged attacks have included blazes at a shopping mall in Poland and an Ikea store in Lithuania, cyberattacks on Czech railways, and the vandalism of Jewish buildings in France.—
Christian Edwards,
CNN Money,
24 Oct. 2025
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His new visions are shattered by an explosion of light and color as, beneath his fist, the green light blazes, the kyber crystal of the Jedi screaming in corruption and cowardice, in fear and loathing—the lies of the Jedi revealed at last.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Falling support in Gaza Palestinian public pressure on Hamas has risen as the miseries of war have mounted.—
Mkhaimar Abusada,
The Conversation,
5 Oct. 2025
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But current virus variants continue to spread burning throats, fevers and other miseries.—
Grant Stringer,
Mercury News,
8 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Purgatories.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purgatories. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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