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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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reformatory

2 of 2

noun

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of 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
Lucien turned himself in the next day and served two years for manslaughter in a reformatory. Penelope Green, New York Times, 24 May 2024 And its productions also traveled to prisons, reformatories, settlement houses and psychiatric hospitals. Adam Hochschild, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Oct. 2023 See all Example Sentences for reformatory 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reformatory
Adjective
  • 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
  • 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
  • Words fail to really capture the unique, harrowing ride that is seeing the horrors of the 1960s Florida reform school the two young protagonists are trapped in, quite literally through their eyes.
    Marcus Jones, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
  • Certainly, there could have been a more straightforward adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s acclaimed novel about the friendship between two Black boys at a brutal Florida reform school in the early 1960s.
    Glenn Whipp, Twin Cities, 24 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • Biden failed to respond with any corrective truths or positive portrayals of immigrant families.
    Julia Preston, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2024
  • This accelerates the identification of threats and the application of the necessary corrective actions to mitigate them.
    John Pritchard, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Noun
  • The dungeon weapons are also not craftable, though that is usually the one activity that is always exempt from crafting.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024
  • This data started to coalesce a week ago as a result of the rarely-dropping god roll combo on the Vesper’s Host dungeon’s new grenade launcher.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • Today, women have successfully passed almost all military training schools, subject to the same physical standards as their male counterparts.
    Matt Robison, Newsweek, 20 Nov. 2024
  • This summer, Chechnya will open one of the largest special forces training schools in the world.
    Neil Hauer, Foreign Affairs, 4 Feb. 2019
Noun
  • Now that stores only sell clothes that have been slapped together from plastic sheeting and surgical staples in fast-fashion gulags, what used to be considered basic construction — stuff like finished seams and sturdy material — becomes downright luxurious in comparison.
    Alison Willmore, Vulture, 16 July 2024
  • Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Union was a murderous gulag.
    Bryan C. Donohue, Baltimore Sun, 17 Apr. 2024
Noun
  • This godown was an oubliette.
    Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper’s Magazine , 7 Dec. 2021
  • Let the novel open like an oubliette under your feet.
    Parul Sehgal, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2019
Noun
  • Imagine your car dropping you off at work and then spending the day earning its keep as a ride-share vehicle.
    Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report, Fox News, 16 Oct. 2024
  • Roberts has rightfully earned his keep and should be appreciated and respected by all.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near reformatory

Cite this Entry

“Reformatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reformatory. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.

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