Purgatory

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Purgatory \Pur"ga*to*ry\, a. [L. purgatorius.]
     Tending to cleanse; cleansing; expiatory. --Burke.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Purgatory \Pur"ga*to*ry\, n. [Cf. F. purgatoire.]
     A state or place of purification after death; according to
     the Roman Catholic creed, a place, or a state believed to
     exist after death, in which the souls of persons are purified
     by expiating such offenses committed in this life as do not
     merit eternal damnation, or in which they fully satisfy the
     justice of God for sins that have been forgiven. After this
     purgation from the impurities of sin, the souls are believed
     to be received into heaven.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  purgatory
       n 1: a temporary condition of torment or suffering; "a purgatory
            of drug abuse"
       2: (theology) in Roman Catholic theology the place where those
          who have died in a state of grace undergo limited torment
          to expiate their sins

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  72 Moby Thesaurus words for "purgatory":
     Abaddon, Day of Atonement, Gehenna, Hades, Naraka, Pandemonium,
     Sheol, Tophet, Yom Kippur, asceticism, avichi, bog, cage, clawing,
     cold purgatorial fires, coop, cruciation, crucifixion, enclosure,
     fasting, fen, flagellation, hair shirt, hell, hell upon earth,
     holocaust, horror, infernal regions, inferno, jahannan, laceration,
     lancination, limbo, lower world, lustration, maceration, marsh,
     martyrdom, mire, morass, mortification, nether world, nightmare,
     passion, pen, penance, penfold, penitence, penitential act,
     penitential exercise, perdition, persecution, pinfold,
     place of confinement, place of torment, pound, purgation, quag,
     quagmire, rack, repentance, sackcloth and ashes, shades below,
     slough, sump, the abyss, the bottomless pit, the grave, the pit,
     torment, torture, underworld