laxative vs cathartic

laxative and cathartic both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
laxative	Yes	Yes	No	No
cathartic	Yes	Yes	No	No

As nouns, cathartic is a hypernym of laxative; that is, cathartic is a word with a broader meaning than laxative:

Other hypernyms of laxative include aperient, physic, purgative.

laxative (noun)	cathartic (noun)
a mild cathartic	a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels

laxative (adjective)	cathartic (adjective)
stimulating evacuation of feces	emotionally purging (of e.g. art)
	strongly laxative
	emotionally purging