How to Use catharsis in a Sentence

catharsis

noun

• Acting is a means of catharsis for her.
• Painting is a catharsis for me.
• As soon as we emerged from the gates of the White House, I became aware of that sea of faces.  … I wanted to cry for them and with them, but it was impossible to permit the catharsis of tears.
  — Lady Bird Johnson, 24 Nov. 1963
• All of us Mary Pages have talked about the lack of catharsis in the play.
  — Barbara Chai, WSJ, 11 July 2018
• But the catharsis of their heart-to-hearts just feels so good!
  — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 15 Oct. 2019
• The fact of killing has carried a sort of catharsis with it.
  — John Dos Passos, National Review, 28 Sep. 2020
• Halsey’s songs seem to come from a place of pain or catharsis.
  — Joe Lynch, Billboard, 21 Oct. 2021
• And making the film was, in a way, a form of catharsis before the event, which seems very strange.
  — Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2022
• At the same time, the novel speaks back to this desire for catharsis.
  — Will Boast, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Apr. 2018
• Killing Howard will be a form of justice and catharsis.
  — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 14 Mar. 2023
• When the ball found the bottom of the net, DeRozan unleashed a primal scream of pure catharsis.
  — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 12 Apr. 2021
• Collins isn’t the only star who’s used hairstyling as catharsis.
  — Edward Segarra, USA TODAY, 22 Dec. 2022
• By the end of the episode, most of our favorite surgeons have found at least some catharsis.
  — Laura Bradley, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
• Landis, for his part, views his new book as a form of catharsis.
  — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Oct. 2023
• There’s catharsis for Queenie by the end, and for the viewers lucky enough to go on the journey with her.
  — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 13 June 2024
• The catharsis of tragedy, the cleansing of the human mind, can feel a little like a Finnish sauna, painful and good at the same time.
  — Time, 17 Apr. 2021
• In the midst of a crisis, great late-night TV can feel like catharsis, even a kind of lifeline.
  — Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2023
• The Loneliest Time was Jepsen’s attempt to spin catharsis out of tragedy.
  — Keaton Bell, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2022
• Metellus worked the first marathon after 9/11 and understands the catharsis the race can give the city.
  — Phil Wahba, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2021
• After 10 years and 18 movies, catharsis isn't too much to expect or to strive for.
  — Justin Chang, latimes.com, 24 Apr. 2018
• Springsteen sang of being trapped on the edge of catharsis, and the music seemed to want to suspend time.
  — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2024
• Everybody wants to have that form of catharsis in their lives.
  — Gordon Cox, Variety, 17 June 2023
• This year, though, the movies might offer an even deeper kind of catharsis.
  — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2021
• Neely turned to art as a way to process her trauma, and some readers will find catharsis here.
  — Renata Sancken, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2023
• Come get your creepy art catharsis on ... just keep your distance.
  — J.d. Crowe | [e-mail], al, 26 Apr. 2020
• Telling the story of a breakup can be healing, like the catharsis of calling a friend after you’ve been dumped.
  — Isle McElroy, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2024
• After this catharsis, Renia felt able to move on, to start afresh.
  — Judy Batalion, Time, 8 Apr. 2021
• The old-timers who saw Bobby Orr soar through the air in 1970 and, nearly five decades later, felt catharsis.
  — Alex Prewitt, SI.com, 13 June 2019
• Because even in the moment of catharsis, there is an acidity.
  — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2025
• And catharsis may be what viewers need even more than escape in a world of relentless news about war, intolerance and fractured ideologies.
  — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2024

Last Updated: 1 Mar 2025