From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cathartic \Ca*thar"tic\, Catharical \Ca*thar"ic*al\, adjective [Gr. ?, fr. ? to cleanse, fr. ? pure; akin to F. chaste.]
1. (Med.) Cleansing the bowels; promoting evacuations by stool; purgative.
2. Of or pertaining to the purgative principle of senna, as cathartic acid.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cathartic \Ca*thar"tic\, noun [Gr. ?.] (Med.) A medicine that promotes alvine discharges; a purge; a purgative of moderate activity.
Note: The cathartics are more energetic and certain in action that the laxatives, which simply increase the tendency to alvine evacuation; and less powerful and irritaint that the drastic purges, which cause profuse, repeated, and watery evacuations. -- {Ca*thar"tic*al*ly}, adverb -- {Ca*thar"tic*al*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: emotionally purging [syn: {psychotherapeutic}]
2: emotionally purging (of e.g. art) [syn: {releasing}]
3: strongly laxative [syn: {evacuant}, {purgative}]
noun
1: a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels [syn: {purgative}, {physic}, {aperient}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
67 Moby Thesaurus words for "cathartic": abstergent, alleviating, alleviative, analgesic, anesthetic, anodyne, aperient, assuasive, balmy, balsamic, benumbing, carminative, cleaner, cleaning, cleaning agent, cleaning solvent, cleanser, cleansing, cleansing cream, cold cream, cream, deadening, demulcent, dentifrice, depurant, depurative, detergent, diuretic, dulling, easing, emetic, emollient, enema, expurgatory, holystone, laxative, lenitive, lotion, lustral, mitigating, mitigative, mouthwash, nauseant, numbing, pain-killing, palliative, physic, pumice stone, purgative, purge, purging, purificatory, purifier, purifying, relieving, remedial, rinse, shampoo, soap, softening, solvent, soothing, subduing, synthetic detergent, tooth powder, toothpaste, wash
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