Crossword Genius

Evacuation chairs sat abandoned (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

catharsis

'evacuation' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'chairs sat abandoned' is the wordplay.
'abandoned' is an anagram indicator (the original order is abandoned).
'chairs'+'sat'='chairssat'
'chairssat' with letters rearranged gives 'CATHARSIS'.

(Other definitions for catharsis that I've seen before include "emotional relief" , "Emotional purge" , "Emotional release" , "relief of tensions" , "Release of feelings" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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