Cathartic

Definitions: Cathartic

Cathartic

Adjective

1. Emotionally purging.

2. Emotionally purging (of e.g. art).

3. Strongly laxative.

Noun

1. A purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels.

Date "cathartic" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1781. (references)

Domain	Definitions
Botanical	See Purgative. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Cathartic

Synonyms: evacuant (adj), psychotherapeutic (adj), releasing (adj), aperient (n), physic (n), purgative (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Cleanness	Wash, lotion, detergent, cathartic, purgative; purifier; Verb: disinfectant; aperient; benzene, benzine benzol, benolin; bleaching powder, chloride of lime, dentifrice, deobstruent, laxative.
	Abstergent, cathartic, cleansing, purifying.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Title
Music	Rock the Cathartic Spirits: Vibe Music & Blues (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Brisk Cathartic. / [J. Gillray].Credit: National Library of Medicine.		Brisk Cathartic. / [J. Gillray].Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Ayer's cathartic pills (The country doctor).Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Cathartic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Cathartic" is used about 40 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	100%	40	54,274

Expression using "cathartic": cathartic acid. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "cathartic": Cato-cathartic, Emeto-cathartic.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "cathartic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		që të surdis, purgativ (aperient, depletive, depletory, purgative, purge, saline), luksativ. (various references)

Arabic		‏العلاج المسهل. (various references)

Bulgarian		очистително (physic, purgative, salts), очистителен (depletive, depletory, lustral, purgative, purgatorial), прочистващ. (various references)

Chinese		净化 (Cathartically, Purgative, Purified, Purify, Purifying). (various references)

Danish		kathartisk metode (cathartic method). (various references)

Dutch		cathartische methode (cathartic method). (various references)

Farsi		مسهل (Physic, Purgative, Purge), تصفیه کننده , روانپاکساز. (various references)

French		cathartique. (various references)

German		reinigend (cleaning, cleansing, defecating, detergent, detergently, purging, purificatory, purifying, scavenging, scouring), kathartisch, abführmittel (aperient, aperients, laxative, laxatives, physic, purgative, purgatives, purge, purges), abführend (aperient, evacuative, laxativ, laxative, laxatively, purgative). (various references)

Greek		καθαρτικό (aperient, purgative, purge). (various references)

Hebrew		מט�"ר. (various references)

Hungarian		hashajtó (aloes, aperient, aperitif, black draught, laxative, physic, purgative, purgative medicine, purge). (various references)

Indonesian		obat pencakar. (various references)

Italian		catartico, purgativo (laxative, purgative). (various references)

Manx		purgaidagh (aperient, laxative, purgative). (various references)

Pig Latin		atharticcay

Portuguese		catártico (depletive, purgative), purificante, purgativo (depletive, purgative). (various references)

Russian		слабительное средство (depletive, laxative), слабительное (aperitive, detergent, laxative, loosener, physic, purge), очистительный (purgative, purgatorial, purgatory, purificatory). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		purgativan (laxative, purgative), purgativ (laxative, physic), katarzičan, katarza (catharsis). (various references)

Spanish		catártico. (various references)

Swedish		renande (detergent, detersive, purificatory), laxermedel (purgative, purge), laxerande (evacuant, purgative). (various references)

Ukranian		очищувальний (purgatorial), проносне (aperient, depletive, evacuant, laxative, physic, purgative, purge), проносний (aperient, depletive, depletory, evacuant, laxative, purgative). (various references)

Vietnamese		thuốc tẩy nhẹ, tẩy nhẹ; để tẩy nhẹ. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "cathartic": cathartics. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Cathartic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: carthartic, cataratie, catharctic, cathardic, cathargic, catharic, catharlic, catharric, cathart, cathartc, catharthic, cathatre, cathectic, katabtic. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "cathartic" (pronounced kuthÄ"rtik)
4	-r t i k	aortic.
3	-t i k	acetic, acoustic, acrobatic, aerobatic, aesthetic, agnostic, alphabetic, altruistic, amniotic, anachronistic, analytic, anesthetic, antagonistic, Antarctic, antibiotic, antic, anticlimactic, antiseptic, apathetic, apocalyptic, apologetic, apoplectic, aquatic, arctic, aristocratic, arithmetic, aromatic, arthritic, artistic, ascetic, asthmatic, astronautic, asymptomatic, atavistic, atheistic, athletic, attic, authentic, autistic, autocratic, automatic, axiomatic, ballistic, bombastic, bureaucratic, capitalistic, catalytic, caustic, chaotic, characteristic, charismatic, chauvinistic, chiropractic, cinematic, climactic, climatic, coloristic, cosmetic, critic, cryptic, cultic, cystic, democratic, dendritic, despotic, deterministic, diabetic, diagnostic, diagrammatic, dialectic, diamagnetic, didactic, dietetic, diplomatic, diuretic, dogmatic, domestic, dramatic, drastic, drumstick, dualistic, dynastic, ecclesiastic, eclectic, ecliptic, ecstatic, elastic, electrolytic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, emblematic, emetic, empathetic, emphatic, energetic, enigmatic, enthusiastic, enzymatic, epigenetic, epileptic, erotic, erratic, euphemistic, evangelistic, exotic, expressionistic, extragalactic, fanatic, fantastic, fatalistic, ferromagnetic, feudalistic, fiberoptic, frantic, frenetic, futuristic, galactic, genetic, geomagnetic, gigantic, granitic, gymnastic, halophytic, hectic, hedonistic, hemolytic, hepatic, heretic, hermaphroditic, holistic, homeostatic, homiletic, humanistic, hyperkinetic, hypnotic, iconoclastic, idealistic, idiomatic, idiosyncratic, idiotic, imperialistic, impressionistic, individualistic, inelastic, interscholastic, jingoistic, journalistic, kinesthetic, kinetic, lactic, legalistic, linguistic, logistic, lymphatic, magnetic, majestic, masochistic, materialistic, mathematic, mechanistic, melodramatic, militaristic, monastic, monochromatic, monopolistic, moralistic, mystic, narcissistic, narcotic, nationalistic, naturalistic, neritic, neurotic, novelistic, numismatic, oligopolistic, onomastic, operatic, opportunistic, optic, optimistic, orthodontic, pancreatic, pantheistic, paralytic, paramagnetic, parasitic, parasympathetic, parthenogenetic, paternalistic, pathetic, patriotic, patristic, pectic, pedantic, peptic, peripatetic, pessimistic, phonetic, phosphatic, plastic, pluralistic, pneumatic, poetic, polytheistic, porphyritic, posttraumatic, pragmatic, primitivistic, prismatic, problematic, programmatic, propagandistic, prophetic, prophylactic, prostatic, prosthetic, psychoanalytic, psychosomatic, psychotherapeutic, psychotic, puristic, quixotic, realistic, relativistic, rheumatic, ritualistic, robotic, romantic, rustic, sadistic, sarcastic, schematic, scholastic, semantic, semiautomatic, semiotic, sensationalistic, septic, simplistic, skeptic, socialistic, static, statistic, stylistic, surrealistic, sycophantic, symbiotic, sympathetic, symptomatic, synergistic, synthetic, systematic, tactic, technocratic, terroristic, thematic, theocratic, therapeutic, thermoplastic, thrombolytic, transatlantic, traumatic, triptych, unapologetic, unauthentic, uncharacteristic, undemocratic, undiplomatic, unenthusiastic, unpatriotic, unrealistic, unsympathetic, voyeuristic.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-c-c-h-i-r-t-t"
	-2 letters: archaic, atactic, cithara.
	-3 letters: arctic, attach, cratch, tactic, tictac.
	-4 letters: acari, airth, aitch, arhat, atria, attar, attic, cacti, carat, catch, chair, chart, circa, ratch, riata, tacit, tatar, tiara, tract, trait, triac.
	-5 letters: acta, airt, arch, aria, caca, cart, char, chat, chia, chic, chit, haar, hair, hart, itch, raia, rath, rich, tach, tact, tahr, tart.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-c-c-h-i-r-t-t"
	+1 letter: cathartics.
	+2 letters: anthracitic.
	+3 letters: antirachitic, catachrestic, cataphoretic, catastrophic, metathoracic, theocratical.
	+4 letters: architectural, intrathoracic, metachromatic, transthoracic.
	+5 letters: catachrestical, characteristic, multicharacter, theocratically.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.