Associations to the word «Catharsis»

Wiktionary

CATHARSIS, noun. (drama) A release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging or purification of the emotions, as through watching a dramatic production (especially a tragedy).
CATHARSIS, noun. Any release of emotional tension to the same effect, more widely.
CATHARSIS, noun. A purification or cleansing, especially emotional.
CATHARSIS, noun. (psychology) A therapeutic technique to relieve tension by re-establishing the association of an emotion with the memory or idea of the event that first caused it, and then eliminating it by complete expression (called the abreaction).
CATHARSIS, noun. (medicine) Purging of the digestive system.

Dictionary definition

CATHARSIS, noun. (psychoanalysis) purging of emotional tensions.
CATHARSIS, noun. Purging the body by the use of a cathartic to stimulate evacuation of the bowels.

Wise words

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.