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
The Paramount+ series, which follows a group of ghosts stuck in purgatory inside their high school, uses its premise — characters tethered to different decades — as both a narrative engine and a musical one.
—
Kennedy French, Variety, 5 Mar. 2026
Asher Luzzatto’s downtown office-to-residential conversion has new life after six months in purgatory.
—Matthew Geiger, Denver Post, 4 Mar. 2026
The result in the shorter term figures to be positive for shareholders, who faced more than two years of purgatory after the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, in the view of MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman.
—Dade Hayes, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2026
Often, they are pushed back to Belarus, where they get stuck in forest encampments along the border or in Minsk, in a kind of dangerous purgatory.
—Elizabeth Flock, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for purgatory
Kennedy French, Variety, 5 Mar. 2026
Asher Luzzatto’s downtown office-to-residential conversion has new life after six months in purgatory.
—Matthew Geiger, Denver Post, 4 Mar. 2026
The result in the shorter term figures to be positive for shareholders, who faced more than two years of purgatory after the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, in the view of MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman.
—Dade Hayes, Deadline, 26 Feb. 2026
Often, they are pushed back to Belarus, where they get stuck in forest encampments along the border or in Minsk, in a kind of dangerous purgatory.
—Elizabeth Flock, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for purgatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purgatory
Noun
-
Even dramas depicting the city as an inferno of crime and decay added to its legend.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
-
Where exactly was that blazing inferno of passion on the diamond?—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Their evident fondness for one another, glowing warmly alongside all their sniping and whispering and eye-rolling, allows all the nightmares in Big Mistakes to feel like a lark rather than an incipient calamity.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
10 Apr. 2026
-
The couple's life has gone from something out of a postcard to the stuff of nightmares after Lynette Hooker went missing during a nighttime Bahamas boat trip.—
Nicole Fallert,
USA Today,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The rules of this netherworld announce themselves, early on, via a nondescript wall sign.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Now, in an age of instant communications, their Cold War counterparts could nonetheless disappear into a covert netherworld, loosening Washington’s controls and freeing them to plot coups, mobilize armies, and install governments.—
Alfred McCoy,
Literary Hub,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The agony of America’s post-1945 wars has been their gradual inducement of a sense of futility.—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
9 Apr. 2026
-
As young fans gripped their face in agony, the older faces held their palms up in knowing shrugs.—
Beren Cross,
New York Times,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In addition to serving as a showrunner, Levy stars as Nicky, an openly gay pastor who gets wrapped up in a shady underworld plot with his flailing sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega).—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Based on the William Lashner novel, Kockroach is the story of a mysterious stranger who takes on New York’s criminal underworld, transforming himself into a larger-than-life crime boss in a city where power is everything.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The story introduces a family curse requiring Rachel to marry her soulmate by sundown on her wedding day or face death.—
Hanna Wickes,
Miami Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
-
The season ends with Rachel driving away, now as this immortal witness to the ongoing curse.—
Jackie Strause,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In Catholic theology, purgatory is the in-between—not heaven, not hell, but a passage of purification before something better.—
Geoff Curtis,
Fortune,
6 Apr. 2026
-
But the president needs a strategy, and the strategy is not just bomb the living hell or bomb Iran to the Stone Ages.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Morning anchors like Katie Couric and Robin Roberts who have dealt with personal challenges — the death of a spouse or a medical ordeal — returned to illuminate issues tied to their tests.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Weeks would pass, and, strangely, despite his ordeal, Schiller did not report it to police.—
Troy Roberts,
CBS News,
8 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Purgatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purgatory. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
