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purgatory

[pur-guh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈpɜr gəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Acme has spent the past several years in cinematic purgatory after its original studio tried to bury it for a tax write-off.

From Slate Sep. 1, 2026

Alas, “Out of the Further” merely serves up exploding televisions and cut-rate smoke machines, making this seemingly menacing purgatory feel more like a bummer way station.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 21, 2026

They feel like suburban purgatory, liminal implying a state in between reality and dream.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 6, 2026

For now, counties like Hood remain stuck in purgatory, watching rapid development overwhelm their communities while waiting for state policy to catch up.

From Salon Jun. 6, 2026

Well, that attitude can get you tossed into grammatical purgatory.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

He could ask Washingtonians and Puerto Ricans for forgiveness over not righting their untenable political purgatories.

From Slate Jul. 22, 2024

Treasury officials, who are trying to brace the public for refund delays, service disruptions, interminable telephone-hold purgatories and other unpleasantries that taxpayers will face over the next few months.

From Washington Post Jan. 13, 2022

These upheavals and tragedies pierce the illusions we have constructed and leave us trapped and spellbound in self-inflicted and imposed purgatories.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 8, 2019

It was a modest success, yet Ms. Wyatt spent the next several years mired in various record-label purgatories, a moist, bright voice lost to time.

From New York Times Jun. 24, 2011

I suppose they are purgatories through which you have to pass to get to these wonderful cities.

From The Christian A Story by Sir Hall Caine




Vocabulary lists containing purgatory


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