catharsis

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   The feeling of relief that comes after you finally express strong emotions you had been holding in.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable, sometimes with a: a catharsis.

   Patterns

   • catharsis for someone
   • a sense of catharsis

   Writing the letter was a catharsis for her.

   He found catharsis in a long, honest talk with his brother.

   The concert offered the crowd a sense of catharsis.

2. 2noununcountableliterarytechnical

   In drama, the emotional cleansing that an audience experiences by watching a tragedy.

   Grammar: Literary and academic use.

   Patterns

   • catharsis in something

   Ancient Greek critics discussed catharsis in tragic plays.

   The final scene brings catharsis after a tense story.

   Some viewers find catharsis in sad films.

Word forms

Common combinations

emotional catharsis

Singing together gave the choir an emotional catharsis.

provide catharsis

Art can provide catharsis after a loss.

experience catharsis

Many readers experience catharsis at the end of the novel.

sense of catharsis

There was a sense of catharsis when the trial ended.

cathartic release

Crying brought a cathartic release.

Synonyms and how they differ

release

Release is a broad word; catharsis implies a deep emotional cleansing.

purging

Purging stresses getting rid of something, and it is closer to the original Greek meaning.

relief

Relief is milder and does not require strong emotion to be expressed first.

outlet

An outlet is a means of expressing feelings, whereas catharsis is the resulting relief.

Opposites

Word family

cathartic adjective

giving emotional relief

cathartically adverb

in a way that releases emotion

catharses noun

plural form of catharsis

Commonly confused: catharsis or cathartic?

Practice

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