sanitarium
Americannoun
plural
sanitariums, sanitarianoun
Etymology
Origin of sanitarium
1850–55; < Latin sānit ( ās ) health ( see sanity) + -ārium -ary
Explanation
In the past, someone who was recovering from a long-term illness might stay at a sanitarium, a special kind of hospital. Many sanitariums in the U.S. once treated patients with tuberculosis. A sanitarium was also often called a sanatorium. Even more confusingly, both words were sometimes used to mean "health resort," something closer to a spa than a hospital. Before antibiotics were invented, the most effective treatment for tuberculosis and other lung diseases was fresh air and healthy food at a sanitarium. The word is rooted in the Latin sanitas, "health."
Vocabulary lists containing sanitarium
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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The Pigman
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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.
The St. Erne Sanitarium had opened on the adjacent West Boulevard, and three others nearby specialized in the feared and stigmatized afflictions of tuberculosis, alcoholism and, in the language of the day, insanity.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2022
Boyle novel and a 1994 movie about the Kelloggs and the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 12, 2022
Kellogg preached to adherents at his then-famous health resort Battle Creek Sanitarium that producing at least three, and much better four, bowel movements a day ought to be the norm.
From Slate • Aug. 23, 2021
It eventually earned the nickname “Hell House on the Hill,” and became the inspiration for Arkham Sanitarium in H.P.
From Salon • Dec. 29, 2019
Often in her imagination, she had converted it into a Sanitarium filled with invalid soldiers, with herself at the head of it as director and patroness.
From The Enemies of Women (Los enemigos de la mujer) by Blasco Ib??ez, Vicente
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.
