catharsis

English

WOTD – 17 January 2007

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κάθαρσις (kátharsis, “cleansing, purging”), from καθαίρω (kathaírō, “I cleanse”). Coined in the dramatic-emotional sense by Aristotle.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈθɑːsɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈθɑɹˌsɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

catharsis (countable and uncountable, plural catharses)

1. (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).
   • 2019 April 14, Alex McLevy, “Winter is Here on Game of Thrones’ Final Season Premiere (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 18 December 2020:

     True, as the show has entered its later years, there have been more inspired moments of catharsis, but fewer unpredictable arcs and story beats, as a narrative nearing its conclusion is no longer attempting to shock.

2. Any release of emotional tension to the same effect, more widely.
3. A purification or cleansing, especially emotional.
4. (psychology) A therapeutic technique to relieve tension by reestablishing 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).
5. (medicine) Purging of the digestive system.

Derived terms

• hemocatharsis
• hypercatharsis

Related terms

• cathartic

Translations

drama: release of emotional tension

• Arabic: تَنْفِيس m (tanfīs)
• Bulgarian: катарзис m (katarzis)
• Catalan: catarsi (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 導瀉 / 导泻 (dǎoxiè), 宣洩 / 宣泄 (zh) (xuānxiè)

• Danish: katarsis
• Faroese: reinleikan f
• Finnish: katarsis
• French: catharsis (fr) f
• German: Katharsis (de) f
• Greek: κάθαρση (el) f (kátharsi)

  Ancient: κάθαρσις f (kátharsis)

• Hebrew: קתרזיס (he) m (qatarzis)
• Hindi: तनफ़ीस m (tanfīs)
• Hungarian: katarzis (hu)
• Icelandic: geðhreinsun f
• Ido: katarso (io)
• Italian: catarsi (it) f
• Japanese: カタルシス (ja) (katarushisu), 浄化 (ja) (じょうか, jouka)
• Polish: katharsis n
• Portuguese: catarse (pt) f
• Russian: ката́рсис (ru) m (katársis), ка́тарсис (ru) m (kátarsis)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: катарза f

  Roman: katarza (sh) f

• Slovak: katarzia f
• Spanish: catarsis (es) f
• Swedish: katarsis (sv)
• Turkish: katarsis

any release of emotional tension

• Catalan: catarsi (ca) f
• Danish: katarsis
• Finnish: katarsis
• French: défoulement (fr) m
• German: Katharsis (de) f
• Greek: κάθαρση (el) f (kátharsi)
• Hungarian: katarzis (hu)
• Italian: catarsi (it) f
• Japanese: 発散 (ja) (はっさん, hassan), 排出 (ja) (はいしゅつ, haishutsu), 解消 (ja) (かいしょう, kaishou)
• Polish: katharsis n
• Portuguese: catarse (pt) f
• Russian: ката́рсис (ru) m (katársis), ка́тарсис (ru) m (kátarsis)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: катарза f

  Roman: katarza (sh) f

• Spanish: catarsis (es) f

emotional purification

• Finnish: katarsis

psychology: therapeutic technique

• Czech: katarze f
• Finnish: katarttinen terapia
• French: défoulement (fr) m
• Greek: κάθαρση (el) f (kátharsi)
• Hungarian: katarzis (hu)
• Polish: katharsis n
• Turkish: katarsis

medicine: purging of the digestive system

• Finnish: suoliston puhdistaminen

Anagrams

• archaists, stasiarch

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κάθαρσις (kátharsis).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.taʁ.sis/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

catharsis f (plural catharsis)

1. (psychology) catharsis
2. (drama) catharsis

Related terms

• cathartique

Further reading

• “catharsis”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French catharsis.

Noun

catharsis n (uncountable)

1. catharsis

Declension

Declension of catharsis

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	catharsis	catharsisul
genitive-dative	catharsis	catharsisului
vocative	catharsisule