as in reformative
serving to raise or adjust something to some standard or proper condition
the belief that manual labor was a reformatory experience for convicted felons, who would learn the value of hard work
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as in reform school
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of reformatory
JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024
His mother sent him to the Élan School in Maine, a reformatory boarding institution with extreme forms of discipline, including shouting sessions and boxing matches, that attracted widespread criticism and that led to the school’s closing in 2011.
—Alex Traub, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 9 Feb. 2025
Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 13 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for reformatory
Adjective
While Spanish Catholicism and reformatory Protestantism favored black clothing, much of the Renaissance happened in an explosion of color.
—JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024
His mother sent him to the Élan School in Maine, a reformatory boarding institution with extreme forms of discipline, including shouting sessions and boxing matches, that attracted widespread criticism and that led to the school’s closing in 2011.
—Alex Traub, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Noun
Her behavior became so outrageous and uncontrollable that her family arranged to send her to a girls’ reformatory.
—Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 9 Feb. 2025
Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 13 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for reformatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reformatory
Adjective
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Fifty-five years after Martin Luther King's death, African Americans continue to proudly honor his reformative legacy in Phoenix.—
The Arizona Republic,
The Arizona Republic,
14 Jan. 2024
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While the idea of hiring actors might raise some eyebrows, acting and artistry can be an important step in the reformative process, and Hemsworth suggested that the actors’ real-life experiences helped shape their on-screen characters.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
5 Dec. 2023
Noun
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When the teens rebel against their abusive parents Ruth and Hank, they are sent to a reform school in the Dominican Republic called Escuela Caribe, where they are imprisoned in a compassionless world that preaches blind obedience over meaningful religious content.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
19 May 2025
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Sunshine state panhandle reform school – a process that required a lot of trust, on all sides of the camera.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
14 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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But our research shows that whether a report leads to corrective action doesn’t just depend on what is reported, but also who is doing the reporting.—
Tim Kundro,
Harvard Business Review,
2 June 2025
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What’s next? St. Hope Public Schools has until Aug. 26 to address the violations and come up with a corrective action plan.—
Jennah Pendleton,
Sacbee.com,
21 May 2025
Noun
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The next look leaves the dungeon behind for a more wistful trip into some witchy woods.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
8 June 2025
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Players delve into dungeons and collect loot and sell those items in their shop in order to obtain better gear.—
Gieson Cacho,
Mercury News,
6 June 2025
Noun
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The Dominican Republic’s free zones also house technical training schools, which the country has invested in to help train and recruit employees for companies.—
Vanessa Yurkevich,
CNN Money,
4 June 2025
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The new Scuola Bulgari is the first publicly accessible Bulgari training school focused on jewelry, which will open in September.—
Luisa Zargani,
Footwear News,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Assad stayed in power by killing his own people, deploying chemical weapons and Russian bombs, and torturing and murdering them in an underground network of gulags.—
Alexander Smith,
NBC news,
14 May 2025
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What kind of people approve of a government that extra-judicially kidnaps innocents and renders them into the hands of a foreign gulag—and then hides behind that government when ordered by an American court to bring them back?—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
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One is a stony oubliette with crystals growing out of the walls.—
Erin Alberty,
Axios,
6 Jan. 2025
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One is a stony oubliette with crystals growing out of the walls.—
Erin Alberty,
Axios,
6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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So keep your piehole shut and go out and play football and earn your keep and earn your respect.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 May 2025
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His papers and other materials were donated to the Newberry Library, where his life will be celebrated at 3 p.m. May 19, and where his papers will reside for keeps, alongside a couple of other columnists named Ben Hecht and Mike Royko.—
Rick Kogan,
Chicago Tribune,
7 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Reformatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reformatory. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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