Meanings
comparative more reformatory · superlative most reformatory
- Of, pertaining to, or conducive to reform; reformative.
Other reformatory schools might not strike that balance between reform and education.
2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 49
plural reformatories
- A prison, especially one for juveniles; a reform school.
It was the nicest-looking property Elwood had ever seen—a real school, a good one, not the forbidding reformatory he’d conjured the last few weeks.
2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 45Synonyms: reform school, borstal, approved school, youth detention centre, juvenile hall, detention home
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA prison, especially one for juveniles; a reform school.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivetending to reform
nouncorrectional institution for the detention and discipline and training of young or first offenders
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
reformatory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reformatory
“reformatory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reformatory. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reformatory,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reformatory.
Source: reformatory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.