purgatory

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Related to purgatory: limbo

pur·ga·to·ry

(pûr′gə-tôr′ē)

n. pl. pur·ga·to·ries

1. Roman Catholic Church A state in which the souls of those who have died in grace must expiate their sins.

2. A place or condition of suffering, expiation, or remorse: a purgatory of drug abuse.

adj.

Tending to cleanse or purge.

[Middle English purgatorie, from Old French purgatoire, from Medieval Latin pūrgātōrium, from Late Latin, means of purgation, from neuter of pūrgātōrius, cleansing, from Latin pūrgāre, to cleanse; see purge.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

purgatory

(ˈpɜːɡətərɪ; -trɪ)

1. (Theology) chiefly RC Church a state or place in which the souls of those who have died in a state of grace are believed to undergo a limited amount of suffering to expiate their venial sins and become purified of the remaining effects of mortal sin

2. a place or condition of suffering or torment, esp one that is temporary

[C13: from Old French purgatoire, from Medieval Latin pūrgātōrium, literally: place of cleansing, from Latin pūrgāre to purge]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pur•ga•to•ry

(ˈpɜr gəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i)

n., pl. -ries,
adj. n.

1. (esp. in Roman Catholic belief) a place or state following death in which penitent souls are purified of venial sins or undergo the temporal punishment still remaining for forgiven mortal sins and thereby are made ready for heaven.

2. any condition or place of temporary punishment, suffering, or expiation.

adj.

3. serving to cleanse, purify, or expiate.

[1175–1225; Middle English purgatorie (< Anglo-French) < Medieval Latin pūrgātōrium (n.), Late Latin pūrgātōrius (adj.) = Latin pūrgā(re) to purge + -tōrium -tory², -tōrius -tory¹]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	purgatory - a temporary condition of torment or suffering; "a purgatory of drug abuse" situation - a complex or critical or unusual difficulty; "the dangerous situation developed suddenly"; "that's quite a situation"; "no human situation is simple"
	2.	purgatory - (theology) in Roman Catholic theology the place where those who have died in a state of grace undergo limited torment to expiate their sins fictitious place, imaginary place, mythical place - a place that exists only in imagination; a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings theology, divinity - the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth

purgatory

noun torment, agony, murder (informal), hell (informal), torture, misery, hell on earth Every step of the last three miles was sheer purgatory.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

purgatory

[ˈpɜːgətərɪ] N (Rel, fig) → purgatorio m
it was purgatory! → ¡fue un purgatorio!

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

purgatory

[ˈpɜː^rgətəri] n

(RELIGION) → purgatoire m

(fig)
It was purgatory → C'était l'enfer.
Every step of the last three miles was purgatory → Chaque pas des 5 derniers kilomètres était un enfer.
five years of economic purgatory → cinq ans de purgatoire économique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

purgatory

(Rel) → das Fegefeuer

(fig: = state) → die Hölle

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

purgatory

[ˈpɜːgət/ərɪ] n (Rel) (fig) → purgatorio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

`As I understand it,' Jake concluded, `it will be a matter of years to pray his soul out of Purgatory, and right now he's in torment.'

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We have gone through several rounds of purgatory since you left, and I have lately got on to a worse ledge of it than ever.

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His reference to the great games of which I had heard so much while among the Tharks convinced me that I had but jumped from purgatory into gehenna.

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"Purgatory dost thou call it, Sancho?" said Don Quixote, "rather call it hell, or even worse if there be anything worse."

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The orang-outang, troubled by some dream of the forests of his freedom, began to yell like a soul in purgatory, and to wrench madly at the bars of the cage.

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But I love the gold and the silk which clothe the priest of Rome, and his celibacy, and the confessional, and purgatory: and in the darkness of an Italian cathedral, incense-laden and mysterious, I believe with all my heart in the miracle of the Mass.

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And had Bashti hastened delivery of the wives by one day, or by even two days, Nalasu would have entered the feared, purgatory of matrimony.

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By and by it was long and thin, a great red snake escaped from purgatory; and then, as it slid through the rollers, you would have sworn that it was alive--it writhed and squirmed, and wriggles and shudders passed out through its tail, all but flinging it off by their violence.

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Without him, travel is a bitter harassment, a purgatory of little exasperating annoyances, a ceaseless and pitiless punishment--I mean to an irascible man who has no business capacity and is confused by details.

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They have some opinions peculiar to themselves about purgatory, the creation of souls, and some of our mysteries.

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We presume that Don Thomas is now in Purgatory for the assertion.

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I have no stomach to narrate the monotonous events of the tedious days that Woola and I spent ferreting our way across the labyrinth of glass, through the dark and devious ways beyond that led beneath the Valley Dor and Golden Cliffs to emerge at last upon the flank of the Otz Mountains just above the Valley of Lost Souls--that pitiful purgatory peopled by the poor unfortunates who dare not continue their abandoned pilgrimage to Dor, or return to the various lands of the outer world from whence they came.