First Known Use: 1612
Dictionary
1cathartic
adjective ca·thar·tic \kə-ˈthär-tik\
Definition of CATHARTIC
: of, relating to, or producing catharsis <cathartic drugs> <a cathartic experience>
— ca·thar·tic·al·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
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Examples of CATHARTIC
- There's something cathartic about a punch in the nose. —Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated, 28 Jan. 2002
- But Vietnam is hard to sell as a tidy, cathartic morality tale of troubled times overcome. —Jennifer Homans, New Republic, 2 & 9 Dec. 2002
- Many veterans, at first reluctant to speak, ultimately uncorked their emotions in a cathartic explosion. —Stanley Karnow, New York Times Book Review, 22 Nov. 1992
- It provokes no healthy tears, whereas Cervantes never fails … to open the cathartic floodgates. —Anthony Burgess, Homage to Qwert Yuiop: Selected Journalism 1978-1985, 1986
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Origin of CATHARTIC
Late Latin or Greek; Late Latin catharticus, from Greek kathartikos, from kathairein (see catharsis)
Other Psychology Terms
2cathartic
noun ca·thar·tic \kə-ˈthär-tik\
Definition of CATHARTIC
: a medicine that causes the bowels to be purged : purgative
See cathartic defined for kids Origin of CATHARTIC
(see 1cathartic)
First Known Use: 1651
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