# purgatory

/ˈpɝɡəˌtɔɹi/ (US) · /pˈɜːɡətəɹˌi/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/purgatory
Updated: 2026-08-27

## Senses

### 1. religious state

noun · CEFR C2 · Formal

in some Christian beliefs, a place where the souls of dead people suffer for a while to become pure before going to heaven.

For teachers: an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven undergo purification. Usually capitalized in this specific theological context.

- In the poem, the character travels through purgatory to wash away his sins.
- The doctrine of Purgatory remains a significant point of theological divergence between the Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations.

### 3. cleansing

adjective · CEFR C2 · Archaic · Formal

having the power to clean or make something pure.

For teachers: tending to cleanse or purify; serving to expiate or atone for a mistake.

- The priest spoke of the purgatory effects of honest confession.
- The ritual was intended to have a purgatory influence on the community, symbolically washing away the failures of the previous year.

## Examples

- Waiting for the test results was absolute purgatory.
- Stuck in the airport for twelve hours with no information, the passengers felt they were in a kind of travel purgatory.
- The protagonist spends the middle chapters in a psychological purgatory, unable to reconcile his past mistakes with his hopes for a future beyond the city walls.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.