Catharsis is the relief that comes from letting strong feeling out. A kind of catharsis, cathartic to write it down, emotional catharsis.
Aristotle coined the sense, arguing that tragedy works by purging pity and fear in the audience. The popular idea that venting anger reduces it has not held up in testing, which is worth knowing before claiming catharsis.
1nouncatharsisThe relief that comes from letting strong feeling out.
“Writing about her grief was a kind of catharsis.”
catharsis is a relief.
The Greek is cleaning out. Aristotle used it for what a sad play does to an audience: they come out washed of the feeling they came in with.
hooks ontoclean
Greek katharsis means a cleansing or purging; Aristotle gave it the dramatic sense.
Ancient Greek
κάθαρσις — cleansing, purging
English, today
catharsis
Built from
From Ancient Greek κάθαρσις (“cleansing, purging”), from καθαίρω (“I cleanse”). Coined in the dramatic-emotional sense by Aristotle.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA