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Examples of cathartic in a Sentence
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
Recent Examples of cathartic from the Web
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For Rifaat, preparing class materials was cathartic.
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There’s such humor and humanity at work that the film manages to be cathartic.
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Nevertheless, Fidel Castro’s death on Friday at age 90 marked a cathartic milestone for people with strong connections to the island nation.
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The release of that album felt cathartic, an answer to questions about her personal life that her fans had been obsessing over for months.
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His races were cathartic, if not particularly fast.
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To some, the turnaround felt a little like the sort of cathartic turning point that can signal a bottom on the markets — at least for a time.
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The climax is cathartic and transcendent enough to smooth over any flaws along the way.
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This entire record was a dream — a mostly satisfying, happily recurring, nearly cathartic dream.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cathartic'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Word History of catharsis and cathartic
Catharsis and cathartic both trace to the Greek word kathairein, meaning “to cleanse, purge.” Catharsis entered English as a medical term having to do with purging the body—and especially the bowels—of unwanted material. The adjective cathartic entered English with a meaning descriptive of such a physically cleansing purge. It didn’t take long for people to start using these words figuratively in reference to emotional release and spiritual cleansing.
Origin and Etymology of cathartic
Late Latin or Greek; Late Latin catharticus, from Greek kathartikos, from kathairein —see catharsis
First Known Use: 1612
Other Psychology Terms
Definition of cathartic
Origin and Etymology of cathartic
see 1cathartic
First Known Use: 1651
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about cathartic
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See words that rhyme with cathartic Spanish Central: Translation of cathartic Nglish: Translation of cathartic for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cathartic
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