purgatorial
adjective
pur·ga·to·ri·al ˌpər-gə-ˈtȯr-ē-əl 
1
: of, relating to, or suggestive of purgatory
2
: cleansing of sin : expiatory
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The freeway showdown between Barry (Hader) and a vengeful heavy-artillery biker gang put the recent Fast & Furious movies to shame — and then a purgatorial beach suggested Ingmar Bergman on a miserable Malibu vacation. 
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 27 June 2022 For Bran, these qualities neutralize the place into a purgatorial zone. New York Times, 17 May 2022 The clip in question reintroduces Lyonne’s onscreen alter ego Nadia Vulvokov, who’s emerged from the first season’s purgatorial storyline only to find herself transported back to 1980s New York. Angelique Jackson, Variety, 9 Apr. 2022 Willis’s slightly off-kilter body language and deliberate line readings give the protagonist a stilted quality that, on repeat viewings, seems entirely apt for a man who is repressing his own purgatorial loneliness. Adam Nayman, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2022 But in the case of Phife Dawg, who died in 2016 at the age of 45 from diabetes complications, that purgatorial sense feels particularly cruel. Jason Newman, Rolling Stone, 22 Mar. 2022 Neo, Bugs, and Morpheus visit Sati (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), a program that first appeared to Neo as a child in the purgatorial train station of Revolutions. Robert Daniels, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2021 If Clyde’s is clearly figured as purgatorial, glimpses of both the divine and the ordinary lie just beyond. Naveen Kumar, Variety, 23 Nov. 2021 Here is the molten core of the series, the power source that’s too hot to truly touch: Ted is a figure of great pathology, a sloganeer drifting in a purgatorial state. The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021 See More
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 27 June 2022 For Bran, these qualities neutralize the place into a purgatorial zone. New York Times, 17 May 2022 The clip in question reintroduces Lyonne’s onscreen alter ego Nadia Vulvokov, who’s emerged from the first season’s purgatorial storyline only to find herself transported back to 1980s New York. Angelique Jackson, Variety, 9 Apr. 2022 Willis’s slightly off-kilter body language and deliberate line readings give the protagonist a stilted quality that, on repeat viewings, seems entirely apt for a man who is repressing his own purgatorial loneliness. Adam Nayman, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2022 But in the case of Phife Dawg, who died in 2016 at the age of 45 from diabetes complications, that purgatorial sense feels particularly cruel. Jason Newman, Rolling Stone, 22 Mar. 2022 Neo, Bugs, and Morpheus visit Sati (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), a program that first appeared to Neo as a child in the purgatorial train station of Revolutions. Robert Daniels, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2021 If Clyde’s is clearly figured as purgatorial, glimpses of both the divine and the ordinary lie just beyond. Naveen Kumar, Variety, 23 Nov. 2021 Here is the molten core of the series, the power source that’s too hot to truly touch: Ted is a figure of great pathology, a sloganeer drifting in a purgatorial state. The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1