cathartic

1. 1.

   emotionally purging

   Synonymspsychotherapeutic

   Similarhealthful
2. 2.

   emotionally purging (of e.g. art)

   Synonymsreleasing

   Similaremotional

   art

3. 3.

   strongly laxative

   Synonymsevacuantpurgative

   Similarlaxative

1. 1.

   a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels

   Synonymspurgativephysicaperient

   Broadermedicine

   Narroweraloescastor oilEpsom saltslaxativemilk of magnesiaSeidlitz powder

Other forms of cathartic

plural

cathartics·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about cathartic

What does cathartic mean?

cathartic means "emotionally purging". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in cathartic?

cathartic has 3 syllables: ca-thar-tic. The stress falls on "thar". In IPA it is /kəˈθɑɹtɪk/.

What is another word for cathartic?

Close synonyms include psychotherapeutic, releasing, evacuant, purgative, purgative. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is cathartic a common word?

cathartic is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.