cathartic
pronunciation
How to pronounce cathartic in British English:
UK [kə'θɑ:tɪk]
How to pronounce cathartic in American English:
US [kəˈθɑrtɪk]
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- Noun:
- a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels
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- Adjective:
- emotionally purging
- emotionally purging (of e.g. art)
- strongly laxative
Word Origin
- cathartic (adj.)
- 1610s, of medicines, from Latin catharticus, from Greek kathartikos "fit for cleansing, purgative," from katharsis "purging, cleansing" (see catharsis). General sense is from 1670s. Related: Cathartical.
Example
- 1. I didn 't tell her that swooning was equally cathartic .
- 2. The crisis should have a cathartic impact on the financial sector but there is a risk that responses to it will overshoot .
- 3. But because of the fear of another big rally , equities particularly in the us have avoided the cathartic sell-off needed to squeeze out speculative excesses .
- 4. The dark side of young adult fiction children today get an unprecedented dose of adult reality in their books sometimes without the redemptive beauty cathartic humor and healing magic of an earlier time .