as in reformative
serving to raise or adjust something to some standard or proper condition
the belief that manual labor was a reformatory experience for convicted felons, who would learn the value of hard work
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as in reform school
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of reformatory
JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024
His mother sent him to the Élan School in Maine, a reformatory boarding institution with extreme forms of discipline, including shouting sessions and boxing matches, that attracted widespread criticism and that led to the school’s closing in 2011.
—Alex Traub, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 13 Dec. 2024
On the cusp of college, he’s instead sentenced to time at a notorious reformatory.
—Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reformatory
Adjective
While Spanish Catholicism and reformatory Protestantism favored black clothing, much of the Renaissance happened in an explosion of color.
—JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024
His mother sent him to the Élan School in Maine, a reformatory boarding institution with extreme forms of discipline, including shouting sessions and boxing matches, that attracted widespread criticism and that led to the school’s closing in 2011.
—Alex Traub, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024
Noun
Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the Jim Crow South.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 13 Dec. 2024
On the cusp of college, he’s instead sentenced to time at a notorious reformatory.
—Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reformatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reformatory
Adjective
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Fifty-five years after Martin Luther King's death, African Americans continue to proudly honor his reformative legacy in Phoenix.—
The Arizona Republic,
The Arizona Republic,
14 Jan. 2024
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While the idea of hiring actors might raise some eyebrows, acting and artistry can be an important step in the reformative process, and Hemsworth suggested that the actors’ real-life experiences helped shape their on-screen characters.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
5 Dec. 2023
Noun
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Nickel Boys is a unique screen adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel based on real-life abusive reform schools in America.—
Tommy McArdle,
People.com,
8 Feb. 2025
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After nearly two decades of reform schools and prison stints, Manson moved to San Francisco in March 1967, according to The New York Times.—
Emily Krauser,
People.com,
9 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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But the new administration last month halted a Biden-era plan for noncompliant hospices to take corrective action or risk being kicked out of Medicare.—
Maya Goldman,
Axios,
13 Mar. 2025
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In presenting the game, Lund develops a passionately analytical aesthetic of baseball that offers a corrective to the way it’s usually depicted.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Both have their place, but what does not have a place is the worst loot farm in the game by a mile, dungeons.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes,
5 Mar. 2025
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Not many people run old dungeons or spend time in old regions—a shame, considering those zones and challenges defined the title.—
Gabriel Zamora,
PCMAG,
11 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Hollywood Casino-Aurora is looking to hire for positions including food and beverage staff, security and surveillance positions, table games and slot attendants as well as dealers, both those who are experienced and those who are willing to go to dealer training school, according to the release.—
Aurora Beacon-News,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Mar. 2025
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Republican purists wanted a simple, technical training school that kept the costs low and, more importantly, kept the officer corps from evolving into an aristocracy.—
Ryan Shaw / Made by History,
TIME,
24 Feb. 2025
Noun
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That is a memoir by Kang Chol-hwan about the North Korean gulag.—
Jay Nordlinger,
National Review,
15 Jan. 2025
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Now as then, letters from the gulags tell of eternal winters, cold cells, and the longing for the first signs of greenery to appear amid the thaw.—
Francesca Mastruzzo (Tr. Elettra Pauletto),
The Dial,
14 Jan. 2024
Noun
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One is a stony oubliette with crystals growing out of the walls.—
Erin Alberty,
Axios,
6 Jan. 2025
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This godown was an oubliette.—
Rafil Kroll-Zaidi,
Harper’s Magazine ,
7 Dec. 2021
Noun
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A week after the adoption event, the couple drove to his foster carer's house to take Fletcher home for keeps.—
Matt Robison,
Newsweek,
24 Feb. 2025
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An initial eight: There was little doubt about Spoelstra playing this one for keeps.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
22 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Reformatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reformatory. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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