| Purgatory 1. (n.) 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. 2. (a.) Tending to cleanse; cleansing; expiatory. Thesaurus Entries 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 |