1
as in inferno
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.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
2
as in nightmare
a place or state of temporary suffering
We found ourselves trapped in the purgatory of a rush-hour traffic jam.
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of purgatory
Sometimes a word has to serve time in lexical purgatory before it can be admitted to the Big Book.
—
Louis Menand, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Looks like Miami will give Ewers the last two games, too, as Tua’s purgatory continues.
—Miami Herald, 21 Dec. 2025
After a post-Kawhi Leonard purgatory that saw the club mired in mediocrity — and worse — the club now seems to have firmly established itself as a major team of the future.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025
Over the last 30-odd years, what was intended to be a temporary shelter has become a long-term purgatory, and that eerily stretched stillness of time is poignantly captured in Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel‘s debut documentary.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for purgatory
Louis Menand, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Looks like Miami will give Ewers the last two games, too, as Tua’s purgatory continues.
—Miami Herald, 21 Dec. 2025
After a post-Kawhi Leonard purgatory that saw the club mired in mediocrity — and worse — the club now seems to have firmly established itself as a major team of the future.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025
Over the last 30-odd years, what was intended to be a temporary shelter has become a long-term purgatory, and that eerily stretched stillness of time is poignantly captured in Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel‘s debut documentary.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for purgatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purgatory
Noun
-
But the inferno nevertheless destroyed the homes of his son and daughter, who are 26 and 29.—
David Zahniser,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2026
-
The Los Angeles Fire Department made the decision to physically move the command post down Pacific Coast Highway and away from the Palisades because the inferno threatened to overtake their location.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
In the ‘Groundhog Day’-esque nightmare that never ends, the ‘urgent’ and ‘engaged’ Boston Red Sox are up a creek without a paddle, vessel, and excuse, having lost out on a top – and very sign-able – free-agent target once again.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
12 Jan. 2026
-
This artistic decision shifts the focus from the battlefield to the psychological and bureaucratic nightmare faced by those desperately trying to orchestrate a rescue from hundreds of miles away.—
Robert Lang,
Deadline,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Nicole finds herself in an all too familiar place for those who have experienced the early phase of young-onset neurological disease, a netherworld between acceptance and denial.—
Gus Alexiou,
Forbes.com,
28 July 2025
-
The other two-thirds are on a scale of anxiously hopeful to beyond desperate -- an amorphous netherworld of doubt that, yes, includes the Miami Dolphins with Tua Tagovailoa, or should.—
Greg Cote,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The dramatic arc of the film’s first half — filled with the ecstasy of God’s embrace and the agony of imprisonment — is told through musical numbers, adapted from the Shakers’ ecstatic worship, dance, hymns, and music (watch the video above to learn more).—
Chris O'Falt,
IndieWire,
7 Jan. 2026
-
One year before Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire published their compendium of Greek myths, Cicellis released her second work of fiction, The Way to Colonos, which ruthlessly dramatizes the limits of individual freedom and the agony of facing one’s powerlessness.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
The Atlantic,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
After years of staying ahead of the law and navigating the complex alliances of the city’s underworld, Polly had closed shop and decided to try her hand at writing.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Meanwhile, a deviant killer operating in the yakuza underworld seems to be shadowing their moves.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
1 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
In part, this is just a curse of timing for the tournaments being played.—
The Athletic Tennis Staff,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2026
-
In Jujutsu Kaisen, heroic jujutsu sorcerers wage war against demonic creatures called curses and the curse users, who wield jujutsu powers for evil.—
Eric Vilas-Boas,
Vulture,
1 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Shown with a gun in hand and looking disheveled, Creasy seems like he’s been through hell and back.—
Rosy Cordero,
Deadline,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But Hannah's ordeal was far from over.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
11 Jan. 2026
-
As oblivion approached, with all its attendant possibilities of panic or bitterness, Bowie summoned the generosity to evoke the ordeal of one prematurely dying man while also thinking and creating at the no less vast scale of life itself.—
Armin Rosen,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Purgatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purgatory. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share