chemotherapy

American  

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

noun

Medicine/Medical.

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.

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chemotherapy British  

/ kiːmə-, ˌkiːməʊˈθɛrəpɪ /

noun

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

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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.

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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.

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Discover More

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

Other Word Forms

• chemotherapist
  noun

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

Unlike chemotherapy, which kills healthy and cancerous cells alike, these medicines essentially empower patients’ immune systems to correctly recognize and attack tumors.

From Salon • May 15, 2026

Mariantonietta says the potential goes beyond a single treatment approach: "Targeting senescence is a huge opportunity for cancer treatments, and ultimately it can play a supporting role in addition to chemotherapy and immunotherapy."

From Science Daily • May 13, 2026

Collins was being treated with a drug called Avastin to slow the tumour's growth, and had been travelling to Singapore for a targeted form of chemotherapy.

From BBC • May 13, 2026

Chemo is a big pain if you’re delivering a drug, a chemotherapy, a chemical poison to your tumors, but it’s also hitting all of your own body’s ability to grow tissue.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

Mom hadn’t let me or Charlie see Nana when she was going through chemotherapy, and we didn’t talk about it after, either, but the specter of death had haunted us for months.

From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson

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