How to Use purgatory in a Sentence

purgatory

noun
Definition of purgatorynext
Synonyms for purgatorynext
  • The marathons were jokingly referred to as one-day purgatories.
  • That’s what the whole concept of the show is about: that purgatory.
    — Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 8 July 2020
  • At the Met Gala, purgatory is the place between the street and the bottom of the red carpet steps.
    — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 10 May 2018
  • Kevin Durant left the paradise of the Warriors for the purgatory of the Nets.
    — Ben Cohen, WSJ, 27 May 2022
  • As the weeks went on, the purgatory of Changing Lanes got worse.
    — Emily Gogolak, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
  • And as his team was stuck in purgatory, the ledger hasn't looked so great lately.
    — Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press, 8 July 2018
  • But where does that leave us, the poor souls stuck in a housing world that feels a lot like purgatory?
    — Alena Botros, Fortune, 18 Sep. 2024
  • Those of us in the gallery found ourselves in some version of that purgatory as well—at once drawn in and kept on the fringes.
    — Leslie Jamison, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2019
  • The market is now in a sort of purgatory because the pandemic in the U.S. is over and not over at the same time.
    — Sami J. Karam, National Review, 18 Aug. 2021
  • The Weeknd is dead, and his latest album, Dawn FM, is the sound of purgatory.
    — Charlie Harding, Vulture, 11 Jan. 2022
  • Biden has argued for more than a decade that Afghanistan was a kind of purgatory for the United States.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 16 Aug. 2021
  • Trapped in nostalgic purgatory at the end of the world.
    — Jill Krajewski, Vulture, 24 May 2022
  • The Colts’ only path out of QB purgatory may be to make a big play for Jackson.
    — Ben Volin, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Mar. 2023
  • The Playhouse is doing God’s work here, in the service of a show set in jazz purgatory.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 21 June 2024
  • That those of us not trapped in the hell of mourning the dead have been languishing in a purgatory of smaller griefs.
    — Jonathan Kauffman, Bon Appétit, 13 Apr. 2022
  • But being stuck in a tiny hotel room for most of a year has verged on purgatory.
    — Emma Batha, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2022
  • That’s adolescent purgatory, the likes of which would make Lizzie McGuire flee back to Rome.
    — Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 26 May 2020
  • Read more More news to know now As Trump's trial nears an end, the Bidens prep for a month in legal purgatory.
    — Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 22 May 2024
  • The warmer air in the room keeps the bubble in a weird purgatory until air starts slowly seeping out of tiny holes in the frozen half of the bubble.
    — Mary Beth Griggs, The Verge, 18 June 2019
  • Uvalde was — and has been, Medrano said — in a sort of purgatory ever since.
    — Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 25 May 2023
  • Not bad for a franchise that not long ago looked to be stuck in passer purgatory.
    — Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2023
  • Most of these have so far failed to make it to the screen and withered in development purgatory.
    — Brent Lang, Variety, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Worried, Claudia stayed in the camp with Joseph, in purgatory once more.
    — Eli Cahan, Rolling Stone, 23 July 2022
  • Recent weeks have brought a new kind of purgatory for tourism workers in the region.
    — Brooks Barnes, BostonGlobe.com, 29 June 2020
  • The biggest unknown is how long we will be left in purgatory.
    — Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 11 Dec. 2020
  • For us, the ultimate purgatory for Vic is being handcuffed to a desk and having to wear a shirt and tie.
    — Derek Lawrence, EW.com, 22 Feb. 2022
  • For this alone, Uncle Jon will spend no time in purgatory.
    — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Apr. 2021
  • Herzberg is gone, and Vasquez has faced five years of legal purgatory alone, with three more years of probation still in front of her.
    — WIRED, 28 July 2023
  • Edward gives up his bed for one of the ladies and settles into carers’ purgatory.
    — Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 20 Oct. 2024
  • Instead, filmmaker Valerio Mastandrea imagines a very present-tense purgatory, following the comings and goings and general doldrums of a group of coma patients caught between life and death.
    — Ben Croll, IndieWire, 12 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'purgatory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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