reformatory

American  

adjective

1. serving or designed to reform: reformatory punishments.

   reformatory lectures;

   reformatory punishments.

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noun

• reformatories
  plural

1. Also called reform school. (no longer in official use) a penal institution for reforming young offenders, especially minors.

reformatory British  

/ rɪˈfɔːmətərɪ, -trɪ /

noun

1. Also called: reform school. (formerly) a place of instruction where young offenders were sent for corrective training Compare approved school

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adjective

1. having the purpose or function of reforming

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prereformatory
  adjective
• pseudoreformatory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reformatories
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of reformatory

First recorded in 1580–90 reformatory for def. 1; in 1750–60 reformatory for def. 2; reform ( def. ) + -atory ( def. ).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reformatory reformatories

Mariona's memory of telling this story to the youngsters in her family is blurred, she believes as a result of the psychiatric "treatment" she was forced to undergo at the reformatory.

From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025

In the film about two teens in a reformatory school, the camera becomes the point-of-view of a couple of characters, while other characters look directly into the lens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024

One student received clemency and was released a few months after the reformatory closed.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 6, 2022

This reformatory housed youngsters who had been convicted of theft, truancy or ill-disciplined – the types of children whose parents didn't want to know, outcasts.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2022

A judge was going to determine whether the boy had to go to a reformatory home or could stay put, with relatives who didn’t particularly want him.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

As a teen, Clayton-Thomas lived on the streets and passed through a series of jails and reformatories.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

In his early attempts to improve the reformatories, Dr. Miller instituted new rules, including one requiring any authority who placed a youngster in isolation to remain with him or her until the confinement ended.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2015

In examining the state child-care system in Ireland, the series brought to light a Dickensian network of reformatories and residential schools for poor, neglected and abandoned children known as industrial schools.

From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2012

The result -- for Mayan, at least -- was a three-year odyssey through various ultra-Orthodox reformatories and foster families.

From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2010

At the present time one not infrequently finds testimonials from convents, asylums, reformatories, and the like, asserting the value of some particularly advertised remedy for this disease.

From Essays In Pastoral Medicine by Austin ?Malley

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