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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The latter may scoff at the idea of a nostalgic horror movie, but anyone who's had the urge to peek through their fingers as nightmares unfold in front of them knows that fear can be both cathartic and illuminating.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Oct. 2025 -
The timing isn't ideal, as the Browns travel to London to face Brian Flores' Minnesota defense, whose complex, blitz-heavy schemes seem a thing of nightmares for rookie passers.—
Jacob Robinson,
New York Times,
1 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 last of the old curses and the purest championship drought in the sport.—
Grant Brisbee,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
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Set for Vietnamese release in the fourth quarter of 2025, The Whispering Spirit is based on ancient myths about special days known as ‘Tam Nương’ that have curses placed on them.—
Liz Shackleton,
Deadline,
19 Sep. 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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Black people, especially in America, have been subjected to the horrors of history.—
Lauren Michele Jackson,
New Yorker,
5 Oct. 2025
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In the show, Ed is inspired by a comic book about Koch titled The Bitch of Buchenwald, given to him by Adeline, suggesting that her sadistic treatment of Jews during the Holocaust led to Gein’s house of horrors in Wisconsin.—
Brian Tallerico,
Vulture,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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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There, Carman learned that firefighters from across the state were deployed to battle the blazes, working 24-hour shifts for two weeks at a time.—
Kathleen Toner,
CNN Money,
3 Oct. 2025
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The report added that emergency response personnel and resources were further challenged by other blazes that erupted in the region around the same time as the Palisades and Eaton fires.—
Thao Nguyen,
USA Today,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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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Task begins by setting up the parallels between Tom and Robbie, two flawed men trying to keep their heads above the water of their own miseries, cutting back and forth between their routines to emphasize their similar ideologies and spontaneities.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Purgatories.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purgatories. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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