curable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- curability noun
- curableness noun
- curably adverb
- uncurable adjective
- uncurableness noun
- uncurably adverb
Etymology
Origin of curable
1350–1400; Middle English (< Middle French ) < Latin cūrābilis, equivalent to cūrā ( re ) to care for (derivative of cūra care) + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Something curable can be fixed or healed. A curable illness or disorder can be treated and recovered from. A bad infection can be scary, but it's most often curable with antibiotics. There are even types of cancer that, while serious, can be treated and are therefore considered curable. Another meaning of curable is "able to be hardened, or cured." You might apply several coats of a curable coating after sanding and staining your dining room table. The Latin root is cura, "care or concern," and also "means of healing."
Vocabulary lists containing curable
Power Suffix: -able
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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.
Bowel cancer is curable, especially if diagnosed at an early stage.
From BBC • Feb. 12, 2026
This is not the first research to suggest dementia might someday be curable.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 29, 2025
Leprosy, a bacterial infection also known as Hansen’s disease, has been curable by a combination of antibiotics since 1981, and the facility closed in 1999.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
Antibiotics are used to treat the infection, which according to the Cleveland Clinic is curable if diagnosed and treated early but can also lead to chronic or recurring symptoms.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2025
You feel it coming on halfway through a shift or later, and you can interpret it the normal way as a symptom of a kind of low-level illness, curable with immediate rest.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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.
