catharsis

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The term catharsis has been used for centuries as a medical term meaning a

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun Medicine Purgation, especially for the digestive system.
  2. noun A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.
  3. noun A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.
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Examples (36)

  • He wanted the catharsis, the audience gripped in the primitive rage of his actions, waiting, breathless, for the blow that would smash the guitar to pieces. —  InterzoneScienceFictionandFantasyMagazine#216
  • A general catharsis, a public act of healing—that was what was needed. —  Starborne
  • Tonight has been a night of reflection and catharsis, a night when editors come together to describe exactly why it is that they do what they do, and why they will continue in their various capacities next semester. —  Stories from The Sun
  • If you are coming to the Devil for therapy or catharsis, that is not what you are going to get today.
  • It's hard to feel much in Watchmen, both because of the aforementioned lack of audience catharsis -- even in a packed house, there were no real cheers -- and because the whole thing moves along at such a methodical, deliberate pace. —  Cinema Blend Feeds
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, from Greek katharsis, from kathairein, to purge, from katharos, pure.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin, from Greek κάθαρσις, purification, purgation, from καθαίρειν, cleanse, purify: see cathartic.
 

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/kæˈθɑrsɪs/
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