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• cure
  cure

  noun

  a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.
• curé
  curé

  noun

  (in France) a parish priest.

cure

¹ American  

[kyoor] / kjʊər /

noun

• cures
  plural

1. a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.

2. a method or course of remedial treatment, as for disease.

   Synonyms:

   antidote, specific, restorative, remedy

3. successful remedial treatment; restoration to health.

4. a means of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental.

   The administration is seeking a cure for inflation.

5. the act or a method of preserving meat, fish, etc., by smoking, salting, or the like.

6. spiritual or religious charge of the people in a certain district.

7. the office or district of a curate or parish priest.

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verb (used with object)

• cures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cured,
  past participle,  past
• curing
  present participle

1. to restore to health.

2. to relieve or rid of something detrimental, such as an illness or a bad habit.

3. to correct (a document, especially a mail-in ballot) in order to make it valid.

   If the voter’s signature is missing, the county board sends them a certification form allowing the voter to cure the ballot so it can be counted.

4. to prepare (meat, fish, etc.) for preservation by salting, drying, etc.

5. to promote hardening of (fresh concrete or mortar), as by keeping it damp.

6. to process (rubber, tobacco, etc.) as by fermentation or aging.

verb (used without object)

• cures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cured,
  past participle,  past
• curing
  present participle

1. to effect a cure.

2. to become cured.

curé ² American  

[kyoo-rey, kyoor-ey, ky-rey] / kjʊˈreɪ, ˈkjʊər eɪ, küˈreɪ /

noun

• curés
  plural

1. (in France) a parish priest.

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cure ¹ British  

/ kjʊə /

verb

1. (tr) to get rid of (an ailment, fault, or problem); heal

2. (tr) to restore to health or good condition

3. (intr) to bring about a cure

4. (tr) to preserve (meat, fish, etc) by salting, smoking, etc

5. (tr)

   1. to treat or finish (a substance) by chemical or physical means

   2. to vulcanize (rubber)

   3. to allow (a polymer) to set often using heat or pressure

6. (tr) to assist the hardening of (concrete, mortar, etc) by keeping it moist

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noun

1. a return to health, esp after specific treatment

2. any course of medical therapy, esp one proved effective in combating a disease

3. a means of restoring health or improving a condition, situation, etc

4. the spiritual and pastoral charge of a parish

   the cure of souls

5. a process or method of preserving meat, fish, etc, by salting, pickling, or smoking

curé ² British  

/ ˈkjʊəreɪ /

noun

1. a parish priest in France

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cure Idioms  

1. see kill or cure; ounce of prevention (is worth a pound of cure); sure cure.

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Synonym Usage

Cure, heal, remedy imply making well, whole, or right. Cure is applied to the eradication of disease or sickness: to cure a headache. Heal suggests the making whole of wounds, sores, etc.: to heal a burn. Remedy applies especially to making wrongs right: to remedy a mistake.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• curer
  noun
• cureless
  adjective
• half-cured
  adjective
• overcured
  adjective
• semicured
  adjective
• uncured
  adjective
• well-cured
  adjective
• curelessly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cures
  plural
• curés
  plural

Participles

• curing
  present
• cured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cure
  simple
• cures
  simple
• have cured
  perfect
• has cured
  perfect
• am curing
  progressive
• are curing
  progressive
• is curing
  progressive
• have been curing
  perfect progressive
• has been curing
  perfect progressive

Past

• cured
  simple
• had cured
  perfect
• was curing
  progressive
• were curing
  progressive
• had been curing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cure
  simple
• will have cured
  perfect
• will be curing
  progressive
• will have been curing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cure¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, Old French noun cure, from Latin cūra “care”; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of curé²

1645–55; < French, Old French; modeled on Medieval Latin cūrātus parish priest; see curate

Explanation

A cure is a treatment that ends an illness or makes you feel better. There is no cure for the common cold, or for a broken heart. Waaaaa. Many researchers focus on finding cures for diseases like cancer and diabetes — while it is possible to recover from incurable illnesses, it's not possible to cure them. You could also say, "This Florida winter is going to cure me of missing Minnesota!" When someone cures meat or fish, they smoke or salt it to preserve it. The Latin root is curare, "take care of."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cure curé cures curés cured curing

As I’ve written previously, quoting Tan and other experts, there is no cure for dementia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Instead, they are the subject of an imagined plotline in which the military or some group of elites has access to extraordinarily advanced technology that can quickly and painlessly cure the human body of anything.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Alonso has not managed to cure Chelsea's set-piece weaknesses.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

One day, equity markets are drunk on the prospect that artificial intelligence will cure cancer, improve on Shakespeare and make airplanes take off on time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Doctors, he felt sure, were more likely to kill their patients than cure them.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

But this was to defraud not their curé only, but the entire Church of her dues: since "pendards" pay no funeral fees, being buried in air.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

"He is more churchman than layman, being convent bred, and in the lesser orders," said the ready curé.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

Ay!" said his host, "I am that curé: so now thou canst guess why I said 'At their old tricks.'

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

The curé did not keep them waiting long, though it seemed an age.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

And the curé pointed at Mangis with his staff.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

If A.I. companies got into certain commercial models, they could start promoting sponsored results, such as pseudoscientific cures.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

Now we must make sure cures reach patients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

It’s not a silver bullet that cures polarization, settles complicated policy debates or ensures that everyone gets along.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

"All she had read online was that it cures cancer."

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Of course they were growing and surviving decades after her death, of course they floated through the air, and of course they’d led to cures for diseases and been launched into space.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

In the case of the French curés, the crucial story was that of Christ’s life and death as told by the Catholic Church.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Laval continued to dispute from time to time with the Home Government concerning the system of movable curés which had been instituted by him.

From The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volumes 1 to 4 by John Charles Dent

Talking of curés, I may mention that one came from a distance of several miles to pay his respects to us, and offer welcome to France.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 437 Volume 17, New Series, May 15, 1852 by William Chambers

But while delighting to describe the virtues of these denizens of the forests, these amiable fauns and jolly satyrs, I must not forget those jovial trencher-men, the curés of Le Morvan.

From Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches by William Jesse

The curés saw in Buonaparte the restorer of the Catholic religion.

From The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 by Charles Roger

The meat, cured at Burbank’s RC Provisions with a proprietary recipe developed by Al Langer, still gets a lengthy — and costly — steaming after it arrives at the restaurant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Because the disorder can be treated and, in some cases, potentially cured, detecting it earlier could help reduce the risk of preventable cardiovascular complications.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

OpenAI founder Sam Altman and others have said that many of today’s diseases could be mitigated if not cured in the next decade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

"When I was sad or lonely, everything would be cured when I drew pictures," she said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

It is here that Joey—now cured of tuberculosis—meets Renato Guerrero.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

The lesson from the US however, has been that talking about benefits to the overall national economy, or potentially curing cancer, does not always cut it locally.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

The United States spends much more on actual medical care, Cohen said, in terms of curing illnesses — but much less on preventative care.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

The goal is to manage pain and symptoms, rather than curing the illness, in the patient’s final months, weeks or days before death.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

The foundation recommended ballot curing programs that speed up the process by utilizing a secure text platform when double checking whether a ballot is legitimate when a voter’s signature doesn’t match state records.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

“It seems a funny way of curing your unhappiness,” said Bernard.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Related Words

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