healthy
Americanadjective
-
healthier,
comparative
-
healthiest
superlative
-
possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality.
a healthy body;
a healthy mind.
- Antonyms:
- sick
-
pertaining to or characteristic of good health or a sound and vigorous mind.
a healthy appearance;
healthy attitudes.
-
conducive to good health; healthful.
healthy recreations.
- Synonyms:
- nourishing, nutritious
-
eligible for the Food and Drug Administration's label certifying that a food is suitable for helping consumers achieve a total diet that conforms to dietary recommendations.
-
prosperous or sound.
a healthy business.
-
Informal. fairly large.
I bought a healthy number of books.
adjective
-
enjoying good health
-
functioning well or being sound
the company's finances are not very healthy
-
conducive to health; salutary
-
indicating soundness of body or mind
a healthy appetite
-
informal considerable in size or amount
a healthy sum
Synonym Usage
Healthy, healthful, salubrious, salutary, wholesome refer to the promotion of health. Healthy, while applied especially to what possesses health, is also applicable to what is conducive to health: a healthy climate; not a healthy place to be. Healthful and salubrious are applied chiefly to what is conducive to health: healthful diet or exercise; a salubrious impact on mental outlook. Salutary suggests something that is conducive to well-being generally, as well as beneficial in preserving or in restoring health: salutary effects; to take salutary measures. It is used also to indicate moral benefit: to have a salutary fear of devious behavior. Wholesome has connotations of attractive freshness and purity; it applies to what is good for one, physically, morally, or both: wholesome food; wholesome influences or advice.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of healthy
Explanation
Healthy means having good health. It's the opposite of sick, but also can mean "doing well" in a general sense. You can have a healthy attitude, or be served a healthy portion of food. Health is one of the most fundamental human concerns. The ubiquitous "How are you?" is often asking after a person's health. To remember healthy think of the proverb: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise."
Vocabulary lists containing healthy
List 1
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Commonly Confused Words, List 3
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Commonly Confused Words, List 6
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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.
See Examples For:
“Repealing the national cap will provide essential relief for local broadcasters by restoring a healthy counterbalance to the growing leverage of national programmers,” Carr said at the meeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
She also found that injecting activin into healthy, nonfused flatworms produced a similar inflammatory response.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
Yet, on the other hand, a belief that the stock market will fall is also why you would want to reduce your risk by allocating a healthy portion to bonds.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
If you’re not expecting luxury and you arrive with a healthy dose of patience, it’s a treat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
For us, as in America, it’s known to be healthy to breast-feed.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
The privately owned reserve is working closely with conservationists in upland areas, such as the Yorkshire Dales, where the curlew population is healthier.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
As a political reporter, I came away from Comic Con with one overriding impression: If world politics were more like the comic book world, reality would be a safer, saner and healthier place.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2026
Researchers are identifying the biological clues that reveal how well dogs are aging, and developing new ways to help them stay healthier longer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
This suggests that the drug rapidly restored a healthier balance in neuronal excitability rather than repairing structural differences formed during early development.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
And it was healthier too, what with the temptation of the ice cream that the cafeteria sold for dessert.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Announcing the new measures, first proposed last year, Public Health Minister Sharon Hodgson said the ban "demonstrates our firm commitment to creating the healthiest generation of children ever".
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
The healthiest part of the labor market is, well, healthcare.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
“These are the healthiest people in the population.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Qi Dai, MD, PhD, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and lead author of the study, explained that the healthiest vitamin D range appears to fall in the middle of a U-shaped curve.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 30, 2025
I hauled buckets of water to the potato patch, drenching the plants which looked healthiest.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
