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Glite Dictionary
🏫 A youth prison 🔄 Intended to reform
reformatory

reformatory

1 7.4
That tries to change someone's behavior to make it better
  • adjective
  • /ˌriːfɔːrˈmætəri/
translation icon : reformatorio
  • One senior legal figure in Nairobi wrote that "nothing but good can come from a closer inspection both by prison and reformatory officials and by magistrates of the prison system at home and from a deeper knowledge of the principles underlying prison and reformatory administration."

Examples

  • One senior legal figure in Nairobi wrote that "nothing but good can come from a closer inspection both by prison and reformatory officials and by magistrates of the prison system at home and from a deeper knowledge of the principles underlying prison and reformatory administration."

    Academic text (2005)

  • Reformatory schools, correctional homes, or juvenile prisons.

    Academic text (1999)

  • It's not a question of the effort being retributive or reformatory in nature.

    Academic text (2018)

  • This change, it was hoped, would create the necessary impetus to make the prison a reformatory place rather than the total punitive color that is usually associated with prison terms.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The Apprentices Act, 1850 was replaced by the Reformatory School Act, 1876, which was amended later in 1897.

    Academic text (2018)

  • There was never a minister of Puritan persuasion or a town council of Puritan persuasion there to instigate such reformatory programs.

  • THEY CALLED IT THE ROCHESTER REFORMATORY.

    Big Bully (1996)

  • A controversy arose when the Executive Board, without consulting the membership, accepted an invitation for membership in the Woman's National Council of the United States, an association of various national societies of women engaged in philanthropic, reformatory, missionary, educational, and professional work.

    Academic text (1990)

  • More than anything else, it preaches that prisons in Nigeria can truly be corrective and reformatory instead of the stigmatized centers they are if proper care is given to pursuing the original philosophy of withdrawing criminals from society for re-training for the same society.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The reformatory approach aimed to help young offenders improve their behavior and reintegrate into society.

Synonyms

reformative
vsreformatory
6.8

Helping to make people or systems better by fixing problems

focuses specifically on improving character and personal behavior

Antonyms

punitive
  • Formal
81 7.0

That makes someone receive a penalty for breaking a rule

How Reforming

reformatory
1 7.4
corrective
27 5.2

Surface Forms

reformatory positive

Morphology

reformatory = reform (semi-transparent) = reform + atory

The meaning is close to 'intended to reform', but the learned suffix '-atory' is not highly transparent for many B1 learners.

Etymology

Reformatory comes from the parts re- 'again' and form 'shape', the same root you see in reform. So reformatory describes something that is 'meant to change or improve' a person's character or behaviour.