cathartic en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /kəˈθɑɹtɪk/ (General-American)
Etymology
Learned borrowing from New Latin catharticus, from Ancient Greek καθαρτικός (kathartikós).
Meanings
-
Purgative; inducing mental or physical catharsis.
Shaving, my favorite activity, is very cathartic.
-
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.
2023 November 1, Ian Prosser talks to Stefanie Foster, “Safety Mission: Possible”, in RAIL, number 995, page 37:I don’t know if [Kamala] Harris found writing 107 Days cathartic, but reading it certainly wasn’t.
2025 September 22, Arwa Mahdawi, “107 Days by Kamala Harris review – no closure, no hope”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:For some, Saturday’s protests were cathartic, a show of force and solidarity by progressives who had struggled to pick themselves up from last November’s election defeat.
2025 April 7, Simon Montlake, Caitlin Babcock, Ali Martin, Cameron Pugh, Jingnan Peng, “Is the anti-Trump ‘resistance’ starting to find its voice again?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more cathartic | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most cathartic | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| cathartick | alternative, obsolete | lexicographic |
Deriveds
cathartine · cathartically · hemocathartic · cathart · cathartical · anacathartic · anticathartic · emetocathartic · uncathartic
Translations (21)
hu katartikus (purgative; inducing catharsis) · de abführend (purgative; inducing catharsis) · pt catártico (purgative; inducing catharsis) · de (physisch/psychisch) reinigend (purgative; inducing catharsis) · ro cathartic (purgative; inducing catharsis) · id melegakan (purgative; inducing catharsis) · ru слаби́тельный (purgative; inducing catharsis) · grc καθαρτικός (purgative; inducing catharsis) · fi katarttinen (purgative; inducing catharsis) · it catartico (purgative; inducing catharsis) · de kathartisch (purgative; inducing catharsis) · fi vapauttava (purgative; inducing catharsis) · id lega (purgative; inducing catharsis) · nl louterend (purgative; inducing catharsis) · sv förlösande (purgative; inducing catharsis) · ca catàrtic (purgative; inducing catharsis) · bg разхлаби́телен (purgative; inducing catharsis) · de erlösend (purgative; inducing catharsis) · sv renande (purgative; inducing catharsis) · fr cathartique (purgative; inducing catharsis) · nl bevrijdend (purgative; inducing catharsis)