purgative
Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of purgative
1350–1400; < Late Latin pūrgātīvus ( see purgation, -ive); replacing Middle English purgatyf < Middle French < Late Latin, as above
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Taking out the trash is like administering a purgative to my house.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2019
Sacrifices come in different hues — purgative, nihilistic — but some of the most memorable involve a greater love in which characters selflessly lay down their lives for others.
From New York Times ● Oct. 23, 2018
The last act of a Shakespearean tragedy always brings such purgative reckonings.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 29, 2018
And this, too, felt like a purgative end to 2016.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 3, 2017
To bring them into balance, Dr. Harlow prescribes two powerful drugs—an "emetic" to make Phineas throw up and a "purgative," a powerful laxative, to evacuate his bowels.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
