chemotherapy

American  

[kee-moh-ther-uh-pee, kem-oh-] / ˌki moʊˈθɛr ə pi, ˌkɛm oʊ- /

noun

Medicine/Medical.

• chemotherapies
  plural

1. the treatment of disease by means of chemicals that have a specific toxic effect upon the disease-producing microorganisms or that selectively destroy cancerous tissue.

---

chemotherapy British  

/ kiːmə-, ˌkiːməʊˈθɛrəpɪ /

noun

1. treatment of disease, esp cancer, by means of chemical agents Compare radiotherapy

---

chemotherapy Scientific  

/ kē′mō-thĕr′ə-pē /

1. The treatment of disease, especially cancer, using drugs that are destructive to malignant cells and tissues.

2. The treatment of disease using chemical agents or drugs that are selectively toxic to the causative agent of the disease, such as a microorganism.

---

chemotherapy Cultural  

1. The treatment of disease with chemicals. The term chemotherapy often refers to a kind of treatment for cancer in which chemicals are administered to destroy cancer cells.

---

Discover More

There are often side effects to chemotherapy, a common one being the temporary loss of hair.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• chemotherapist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• chemotherapies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of chemotherapy

First recorded in 1905–10; chemo- + therapy

Explanation

Chemotherapy is a common treatment for cancer. Patients who receive chemotherapy take strong anti-cancer drugs meant to kill the cancer cells. Chemotherapy is given through an IV directly into a patient's veins or in pill form. While chemotherapy is a powerful tool for keeping cancer cells from reproducing, it can often make people feel quite sick because it kills other cells as well. The word literally means "treatment of diseases by chemicals," from the German Chemotherapie and its roots, the scientific prefix chemo-, "chemical," and the Greek therapeia, "healing."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chemotherapy chemotherapies

A few studies suggest that adding vitamin C infusions to chemotherapy may help some patients live a little longer or help with side-effects, but other studies show no clear benefit.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

One consistent signal is quality of life: patients given vitamin C alongside chemotherapy often report less fatigue, less pain and fewer side-effects, such as nausea.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

She spent the last three years chronicling her daily life as a young person going through chemotherapy and living with cancer, with all its hopes, joys and struggles.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Bhasin says certain at-risk subsets of the population should be screened, such as people with chronic kidney disease on dialysis, men who have been treated with chemotherapy, or have chronic liver disease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

This is the genuinely decisive technology of modern medicine, exemplified best by modern methods for immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, and the childhood virus diseases, and the contemporary use of antibiotics and chemotherapy for bacterial infections.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

The deal will expand Gilead’s capabilities in antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, which deliver powerful chemotherapies to cancerous cells without harming nearby cells.

From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026

When mixed with other nutrients, they can also be administerd alongside chemotherapies, the Times noted.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2024

Most chemotherapies work by disrupting this DNA replication machinery in rapidly dividing tumor cells.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 18, 2024

The rationing of key chemotherapies added urgency to the crisis.

From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2023

That finding could lead to more tolerable chemotherapies that avoid stimulating those nerve pathways or even tamp them down.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 10, 2021

Related Words

• bomber