Synonyms of the word

abreaction

• n. (psychoanalysis) The re-living of an experience with a view to purging its emotional dross.

catharsis

• n. (drama) A release of emotional tension after an overwhelming vicarious experience, resulting in the purging…
• n. Any release of emotional tension to the same effect, more widely.
• n. A purification or cleansing, especially emotional.
• n. (psychology) A therapeutic technique to relieve tension by re-establishing the association of an emotion…
• n. (medicine) Purging of the digestive system.

katharsis

• n. Alternative form of catharsis.

purge

• n. An act of purging.
• n. (medicine) An evacuation of the bowels or a vomiting.
• n. A cleansing of pipes.
• n. A forcible removal of people, for example, from political activity.
• n. That which purges; especially, a medicine that evacuates the intestines; a cathartic.
• v. (transitive) to clean thoroughly; to cleanse; to rid of impurities.
• v. (transitive, religion) to free from sin, guilt, or the burden or responsibility of misdeeds.
• v. (transitive) To remove by cleansing; to wash away.
• v. (transitive, medicine) to void (the bowels); to vomit.
• v. (transitive, medicine) To operate on (somebody) as a cathartic, or in a similar manner.
• v. (transitive, law) to clear of a charge, suspicion, or imputation.
• v. (transitive) To clarify; to clear the dregs from (liquor).
• v. (intransitive) To become pure, as by clarification.
• v. (intransitive) To have or produce frequent evacuations from the intestines, as by means of a cathartic.

purging

• v. present participle of purge.
• n. The act or an instance of eliminating contamination: a purification, a cleansing, particularly.
• n. The removal of waste from the human body, particularly.
• n. (chiefly medicine) Vomiting; vomiting induced by purgatives.
• n. (obsolete and rare) That which is purged: contamination, a contaminant; refuse; sin; etc.
• n. (obsolete and rare) Synonym of purgation: the act or an instance of removing guilt or suspicion of a misdeed.