Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
purgatorial

purgatorial

1 9.9
A slow, painful time that feels like a test before relief
  • adjective
  • /ˌpɜrɡəˈtɔriəl/
  • Literature
translation icon : purgatorio
  • The purgatorial overtone of the temporary captivity in the water bucket is hard to miss.
  • purgatorial suffering
  • purgatorial passivity

And some like kind of purgatorial hell of, of this creature.

Examples

  • No, undying pain and suffering as we remain cognizant of our never-ending state of purgatorial stasis.

    Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (2023)

  • The indulgence, of course, is meaningful in Catholic belief only as a remission of purgatorial punishment.

    Academic text (2008)

  • A moment later, out of breath, we emerge on deck to a scene of purgatorial despair.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Purgatorial passivity is an odd mixture of both joy.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Catherine of Genoa described the inactivity of purgatorial suffering in a manner that became authoritative for the later tradition.

    Academic text (2008)

  • In this regard, the textual evidence suggests that the layperson becomes like the ascetic, and, even more, can become an ascetic through purgatorial suffering.

    Academic text (2008)

  • In fact, later in the account, after Owen has witnessed scene after scene of purgatorial torture, he enters the earthly paradise that Adam and Eve inhabited before the Fall.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Like Catherine of Genoa, Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi portrays purgatorial sufferings as fulfilling.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The spirits of the Cercle Harmonique also spoke of angels, purgatorial penance, and paradise, using language familiar to the many New Orleans Spiritualists who were raised in the Catholic Church.

    Academic text (2018)

  • The journey through the storm felt purgatorial, testing our patience and endurance.

Synonyms

purging
vspurgatorial
  • Literature
9.1

Causing a spiritual cleaning through rituals or acts that show sorrow

focuses on a suffering cleansing process linked to the afterlife rather than one act
purifying
vspurgatorial
  • Formal
6.2

Makes a person feel free of guilt or sin, often by ritual

emphasizes a cleansing process involving suffering or hardship rather than just the result

How Painful

excruciating
46 7.9
purgatorial
  • Literature
1 9.9
difficult
∞ 1.6
challenging
183 4.4
untroubled
4 3.5

Surface Forms

purgatorial positive

Morphology

purgatorial = purgatory (semi-transparent) = purgatory + al

The adjective is clearly built from 'purgatory', but the common figurative sense of prolonged suffering is a slight semantic extension rather than a fully literal composition.

Etymology

Purgatorial comes from the Latin purgare, meaning 'to clean', and from purgatory, the idea of a place for purification after death. It is the same root as purge and pure, so a purgatorial experience is like a hard, often painful 'cleansing' that is meant to purify or change someone.