cathartics

noun

plural of cathartic
as in drugs
a substance used to induce or speed up the process of defecation Epsom salts, when ingested, act as a cathartic.

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cathartics
  1. drugs
  2. medications
  3. medicines
  4. pharmaceuticals
  5. remedies
Noun
  • Chung and her colleagues treat cells with diverse drugs and simultaneously measure intracellular regulatory proteins, including the direct drug targets, and the transcriptome over a longitudinal time course.
    — Rachel Martin, Hartford Courant, 11 July 2026
  • In anticipation of the birth of his son, Ferguson had kicked a nagging heroin habit, trading his addiction to drugs for an infatuation with activism.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 July 2026
Definition of drugs
Noun
  • Some but not all of his medications came, because the health plan said his provider needed to clarify his prescriptions.
    — Renuka Rayasam, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 July 2026
  • The drugs normalized injectable medications, and patients saw the power of peptides firsthand.
    — Jenna Anderson, Health, 13 July 2026
Definition of medications
Noun
  • Researchers are already exploring approaches such as lowering doses, taking medicines less frequently (like monthly or quarterly), or switching from injections to pills.
    — Annika Kim Constantino, CNBC, 11 July 2026
  • Last month, France’s medicines regulator fined Novo Nordisk approximately $2 million and Eli Lilly $127,000 over direct-to-consumer obesity awareness campaigns.
    — Max Moser, STAT, 9 July 2026
Definition of medicines
Noun
  • These are the raw materials for paints, adhesives, pharmaceuticals, detergents, and metal processing.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
  • Even drinking water, which is carefully treated and monitored, can contain trace amounts of contaminants from multiple sources, including pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and compounds formed during water treatment.
    — Brad Reisfeld, The Conversation, 6 July 2026
Definition of pharmaceuticals
Noun
  • Instead, the meddling radiated corruption over due process of an unfortunate but longstanding rule that has remedies seldom invoked in the middle of the World Cup.
    — Vahe Gregorian July 7, Kansas City Star, 7 July 2026
  • Some products even offer natural remedies such as walnut shells or apricot seeds.
    — BestReviews, Mercury News, 7 July 2026
Definition of remedies
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

cathartic
cathartics
cathedral
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cathartics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cathartics. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on cathartics

Nglish: Translation of cathartics for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All