remedy
Americannoun
-
remedies
plural
-
something that cures or relieves a disease or bodily disorder; a healing medicine, application, or treatment.
- Synonyms:
- medication, medicament, specific, restorative, cure
-
something that corrects or removes an evil of any kind.
- Synonyms:
- antidote, corrective
-
Law. legal redress; the legal means of enforcing a right or redressing a wrong.
-
Coining. a certain allowance at the mint for deviation from the standard weight and fineness of coins; tolerance.
verb (used with object)
-
remedies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
remedied,
past participle, past
-
remedying
present participle
noun
-
any drug or agent that cures a disease or controls its symptoms
-
anything that serves to put a fault to rights, cure defects, improve conditions, etc
a remedy for industrial disputes
-
the legally permitted variation from the standard weight or quality of coins; tolerance
verb
-
to relieve or cure (a disease, illness, etc) by or as if by a remedy
-
to put to rights (a fault, error, etc); correct
Synonym Usage
See cure.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
remedysimple
-
remediessimple
-
have remediedperfect
-
has remediedperfect
-
am remedyingprogressive
-
are remedyingprogressive
-
is remedyingprogressive
-
have been remedyingperfect progressive
-
has been remedyingperfect progressive
Past
-
remediedsimple
-
had remediedperfect
-
was remedyingprogressive
-
were remedyingprogressive
-
had been remedyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of remedy
First recorded in 1175–1225; (for the noun) Middle English remedie, from Anglo-French, from Latin remedium, from re- re- + med(ērī) “to heal” ( cf. medical) + -ium -ium; (for the verb) late Middle English remedien, from Middle French remedier, from Latin remediāre, derivative of remedium
Explanation
A remedy is something that relieves or cures a problem or illness. Aloe vera is a common remedy for sunburn. If you're having trouble sleeping, the first remedy you might try is a hot bath and a cup of chamomile tea. If that doesn't help, you may resort to something stronger, like a sedative. If a streetlight shining in your window is part of the problem, you can remedy the situation with some room-darkening shades. But if it's your upstairs neighbors and their all-night partying that's keeping you awake, you may have to consider a legal remedy.
Vocabulary lists containing remedy
Vocabulary from Beyoncé's "Lemonade"
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act IV
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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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:
Both parties are trying to remedy mistakes of elections past in the hopes of winning over the Gen Z vote, launching targeted recruitment efforts, hiring more young people and leaning into social media.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Angurweet is used as a remedy for ailments including stomach ache.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
“In line with Jackson, two other Courts of Appeals have now affirmed the common-sense remedy that this illegality should be stopped.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the states’ antitrust litigation, said Tuesday that Paramount’s 30-movie pledge wouldn’t be an adequate remedy for what he sees as the merger’s harms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Lyons sued the City of Los Angeles for violation of his constitutional rights and sought, as a remedy, a ban against future use of the chokeholds.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
He listed a number of ideas, from "slowing the water down" using farming landscaping remedies, to tree planting and better monitoring "so we know when things might be getting worse".
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Later, he published a science-fiction novel, called “Darkome,” where AI bioengineering has enabled biological attacks and characters use genetic technology to develop remedies for cancer and other diseases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
In other countries in the world, where medication is available for everyone who needs it, defrauding the public with worthless remedies is curtailed if not made impossible.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Among the remedies he’s floated, according to the Nevada Independent, is using technology to measure voters’ heartbeat as a way to verify their identity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Simple remedies for dire situations, that’s the lesson.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
The resulting racing inefficiencies can be remedied with market designs that slow the pace of trading, but more accurate clocks will not solve the underlying problem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Every single person in that room revealed that they had dense breasts, which we thought could be remedied somehow through self-massage.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026
In its ruling, it noted initial "shortcomings" in the environmental impact assessment decision-making process, but said they were remedied within enough time not to affect that right.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2025
DCI Kelleher told the inquest the issue has not been remedied and a solution is only planned to be installed in April 2026.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2025
Where there are fewer, the deficiency may be remedied by collecting and distributing the baglike cocoons containing the eggs.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The iOS 26.4 update improved keyboard accuracy by remedying the ghost-letter problem, but autocorrect issues persist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
“This has been one of the holy grails of remedying the Korean discount, and there’s at least a 50-50 chance of it passing this year,” he says.
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
The truce extension will give more time for negotiations about "remedying trade imbalances" and "unfair trade practices", the White House said.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025
“Why not just jump straight into the deep end?” said Karty, who is charged with remedying the Rams’ woebegone kicking of 2023 .
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2024
Fizz is prone to remedying me and would invariably seek the answer to my “problem.”
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
