catharsis
catharsis
Definition
ca·thar·sis (kə t̸här′sis)
noun
- purgation, esp. of the bowels
- the purifying of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. by art; concept applied originally by Aristotle to the effect of tragic drama on the audience
- Psychiatry the alleviation of fear, problems, and complexes by bringing them to consciousness or giving them expression
Etymology: ModL < Gr katharsis, purification < kathairein, to purify < katharos, pure
catharsis
Synonyms
catharsis
Usage Examples
Converse of object
- experience: Once we begin examining ourselves, we will experience catharsis many, many times.
- provide: The city may be in mourning, but the numerous church services and candlelight vigils help provide some emotional catharsis.
- achieve: Dante ' s own anger at the darkness of his times here achieves catharsis through Mark's condemnation.
- find: Finding subversive catharsis, random murder is depicted as not only enjoyable but indispensable for the men's peace of mind.
- generate: First, the creative experience, when completed, may generate a catharsis.
- create: It lies in our willingness and capacity to create global catharsis in a creative way, to precipitate change by choice.
Adjective modifier
- emotional: The city may be in mourning, but the numerous church services and candlelight vigils help provide some emotional catharsis.
- pure: And h er voice is pure catharsis when she asks: âWhat do I got to do to work it out?
- social: This begins with a social catharsis and ends in social resentment, and sometimes in social bitterness too.
- intense: So he wrote ' Thus Spoke Zarathustra ' during a period of intense catharsis, and was afterward engulfed in bitterness.
- psychological: The diagnosis may produce a psychological catharsis which may benefit the afflicted in relation to the real fear of witchcraft.
- major: It seems to me that in the first year of living together with her he underwent a major catharsis.
