Purgamatory is the period of time between marriage and divorce. Once a married person has declared that they are getting a divorce they become a Purgamate and enter Purgamtory. Purgamatory and Purgamate are used as the reverse terms of engagement or fiancé. Once these words are adopted everybody would know what you are talking about quickly. Just a couple of simple, non-derogatory, extremely descriptive words to add to our vocabulary.

By using these words, people will instantly know you're in the process of divorce without asking, and you can choose to talk more about it or not get into it. We no longer have to find ourselves in a position where we feel the need to explain the messy details - and avoid getting emotional or feeling weird when we talk about it, because it's an uncomfortable situation. Now we have a word for it, and can refrain from saying 'woe is me, I'm getting divorced...'
People getting divorces are faced with having to describe their miserable situation because there has been no name for this period of time. In all other periods of the relationship lifecycle people can say one word and everybody gets the idea. Chris got married, Paul got engaged, Sally got divorced etc. Now, you can say 'Pete is in purgamatory, and people will get it, and understand the situation without you having to go into the miserable, painful details every single time.
by Purgamate October 17, 2013

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