Cathartic
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A laxative.
"The disease was regarded as pneumonia so far advanced that suppuration seemed to have supervened; bleeding, blisters, expectorants, and cathartics diminished the symptoms; the pulse continued frequent, hard, full, but always regular."
- 2 a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels wordnet
- 1 Purgative; inducing mental or physical catharsis.
"Shaving, my favorite activity, is very cathartic."
- 2 That which releases emotional tension, especially after an overwhelming experience.
""So, there are real opportunities to create real change with enforcement." Prosser describes how some of that change is also cathartic to those who have been directly affected by incidents on the railway, such as the families who have lost loved ones."
- 1 strongly laxative wordnet
- 2 emotionally purging (of e.g. art) wordnet
- 3 emotionally purging wordnet
Example
More examples"Quitting one's job with a bang is cathartic but is it the right thing to do?"
Etymology
Learned borrowing from New Latin catharticus, from Ancient Greek καθαρτικός (kathartikós).
More for "cathartic"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.