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cathartic

cathartic

20 7.4
Giving strong emotional relief after you express feelings
  • adjective
  • /kəˈθɑrtɪk/
translation icon : catártico
  • Crying during the movie felt cathartic as I released all my pent-up sadness.
  • cathartic experience
  • cathartic effect
  • cathartic release

Like, I don't go like, I think having that cathartic experience makes me feel less alone.

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Examples

  • And it was the most cathartic experience I've ever had in my entire life.

  • Everybody just needs time to to heal and kind of have their cathartic moment with all of this.

  • I think it's a perfect end to this, a perfect cathartic end to a cathartic week.

  • And, and and I knew that I needed to go through some kind of cathartic process.

  • And again, it was just so cathartic as my way of processing, I think what had happened.

  • All I can say is I think this'll be cathartic for the both of us.

  • In the group interviews, the cathartic function of the interview was increased by the presence of intimate, long-time friends.

    Academic text (1994)
  • I had the privilege of experiencing the cathartic power of your music live in Athens last year.

    Blog text (8)
  • In addition, allowing victims to express their own anguish may be a cathartic condition of healing.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Ms. Ress's stories of survival in New York City through the 9/11 attacks gave them that cathartic experience.

    Academic text (2013)

Synonyms

releasing
vscathartic
5.4

A thing that helps a person let out strong feelings through art or therapy

provides emotional relief by expressing strong feelings and purging emotions

Antonyms

30 7.0

Limiting people's freedom to speak or act

4 5.3

Very hot, close air that makes it hard to breathe

How Healing

therapeutic
87 5.2
cathartic
20 7.4
soothing
81 2.9
comforting
134 1.4

Surface Forms

cathartic positive

Morphology

cathartic = catharsis (semi-transparent) = cathart + ic

The emotional sense is directly related to 'catharsis' (emotional purging), but the Greek-derived base is not a widely known everyday word for many learners.

Etymology

The word cathartic comes from the Greek word katharsis, which means 'cleansing'. So a cathartic experience helps 'clean out' strong feelings and gives emotional relief.