How to Use cathartic in a Sentence

cathartic

adjective
  • By midnight at Doyle’s, the effect of the talk and the beer was cathartic.
    Tracy Kidder, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2023
  • Rolling in the mud, to strike a piggy metaphor, can be cathartic.
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 17 Feb. 2023
  • Playing Kaylee, and being able to shed her at the end of the shoot, was cathartic.
    Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2022
  • How cathartic that would be for Dorrell against the team that sacked him in 2007.
    Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2022
  • The result: a cathartic yawp for bandmates and fans alike.
    Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 8 Nov. 2023
  • How cathartic can music be in the wake of a soul-sapping tragedy?
    George Varga, sandiegouniontribune.com, 26 June 2017
  • The writing process was the most important and cathartic for me.
    Ingrid Vasquez, Peoplemag, 4 Mar. 2024
  • In many ways, her story can be read as the cathartic last say of a survivor.
    Margaret Wappler, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2019
  • The game proved to be a cathartic outpouring of support for the Bills and Hamlin.
    Dallas News, 9 Jan. 2023
  • But that wouldn’t be nearly as cathartic as a sword fight.
    Douglas Watson, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2022
  • That scene proved cathartic, but fear roiled and rumbled inside of her with each line of the script.
    David Oliver, USA TODAY, 3 Nov. 2021
  • The whole process has been cathartic for me and, from what others have posted, for them as well.
    BostonGlobe.com, 30 Apr. 2021
  • The climax is cathartic and transcendent enough to smooth over any flaws along the way.
    N. K. Jemisin, New York Times, 28 Dec. 2015
  • The song has been called life-changing, life-saving, and cathartic.
    Perrie Samotin, Glamour, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Sometimes a big, cathartic cry is just what's needed to make it through a tough week.
    Bianca Rodriguez, Marie Claire, 29 Sep. 2020
  • And the screams of a neighborhood, in a cathartic release of frustration and stress, cut through the night air.
    Washington Post, 19 Apr. 2022
  • There’s a sort of common chord, a thread that runs through all of our lives, and sometimes these songs can be cathartic.
    Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021
  • Or that’s the goal, that a role could be actually cathartic for you.
    Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2021
  • There was something almost cathartic about it in a way.
    Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 30 Aug. 2021
  • But sometimes a movie can, in the most cathartic ways, expose those problems.
    Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 9 May 2018
  • Plenty of customers clearly felt the cathartic need to vent; the doll is pin-stuck from head nearly to toe.
    John Leicester, Anchorage Daily News, 28 Nov. 2022
  • The move to Corvallis has proven to be cathartic for Uiagalelei, much like those strolls with Pritchard around town.
    Joe Freeman, oregonlive, 1 Sep. 2023
  • It’s so cathartic, having all those emotions come out of your body.
    Neal Justin, Star Tribune, 28 Aug. 2020
  • In all honesty, the media tour was a little bit cathartic.
    Jim Ayello, Indianapolis Star, 1 June 2018
  • But this one was different and felt cathartic on both sides.
    Chris Kenning, The Courier-Journal, 23 Nov. 2021
  • There’s something very cathartic about the violence of that scene.
    Emma Dibdin, Harper's BAZAAR, 14 Aug. 2019
  • The fan movement of wanting to know what Justice League was supposed to be, that was cathartic.
    Hemal Jhaveri, WIRED, 28 Nov. 2023
  • Writing has also been cathartic for the star, who's been working on Flip Your Life for years.
    Staff Author, Peoplemag, 31 Jan. 2024
  • There are no jump scares, slashings or cathartic screams and chases.
    Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 4 July 2019
  • To be fair, folks who have survived/dealt with bad times have long found horror films to be cathartic and/or a source of pleasure amid the pain.
    Scott Mendelson, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cathartic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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