cathartic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Purgative; inducing mental or physical catharsis.

   Shaving, my favorite activity, is very cathartic.

2. 2
   noun

   A laxative.

   The disease was regarded as pneumonia so far advanced that suppuration seemed to have supervened; bleeding, blisters, expectorants, and cathartics diminished the symptoms; the pulse continued frequent, hard, full, but always regular.

Learned borrowing from New Latin catharticus, from Ancient Greek καθαρτικός (kathartikós).

Topics