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• cure
  cure

  noun

  a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.
• curé
  curé

  noun

  (in France) a parish priest.

cure

¹ American  

[kyoor] / kjʊər /

noun

• cures
  plural

1. a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.

2. a method or course of remedial treatment, as for disease.

   Synonyms:

   antidote, specific, restorative, remedy

3. successful remedial treatment; restoration to health.

4. a means of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental.

   The administration is seeking a cure for inflation.

5. the act or a method of preserving meat, fish, etc., by smoking, salting, or the like.

6. spiritual or religious charge of the people in a certain district.

7. the office or district of a curate or parish priest.

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verb (used with object)

• cures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cured,
  past participle,  past
• curing
  present participle

1. to restore to health.

2. to relieve or rid of something detrimental, such as an illness or a bad habit.

3. to correct (a document, especially a mail-in ballot) in order to make it valid.

   If the voter’s signature is missing, the county board sends them a certification form allowing the voter to cure the ballot so it can be counted.

4. to prepare (meat, fish, etc.) for preservation by salting, drying, etc.

5. to promote hardening of (fresh concrete or mortar), as by keeping it damp.

6. to process (rubber, tobacco, etc.) as by fermentation or aging.

verb (used without object)

• cures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cured,
  past participle,  past
• curing
  present participle

1. to effect a cure.

2. to become cured.

curé ² American  

[kyoo-ray, kyoor-ay, ky-ray] / kjʊˈreɪ, ˈkjʊər eɪ, küˈreɪ /

noun

• curés
  plural

1. (in France) a parish priest.

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cure ¹ British  

/ kjʊə /

verb

1. (tr) to get rid of (an ailment, fault, or problem); heal

2. (tr) to restore to health or good condition

3. (intr) to bring about a cure

4. (tr) to preserve (meat, fish, etc) by salting, smoking, etc

5. (tr)

   1. to treat or finish (a substance) by chemical or physical means

   2. to vulcanize (rubber)

   3. to allow (a polymer) to set often using heat or pressure

6. (tr) to assist the hardening of (concrete, mortar, etc) by keeping it moist

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noun

1. a return to health, esp after specific treatment

2. any course of medical therapy, esp one proved effective in combating a disease

3. a means of restoring health or improving a condition, situation, etc

4. the spiritual and pastoral charge of a parish

   the cure of souls

5. a process or method of preserving meat, fish, etc, by salting, pickling, or smoking

curé ² British  

/ ˈkjʊəreɪ /

noun

1. a parish priest in France

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cure Idioms  

1. see kill or cure; ounce of prevention (is worth a pound of cure); sure cure.

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Synonym Usage

Cure, heal, remedy imply making well, whole, or right. Cure is applied to the eradication of disease or sickness: to cure a headache. Heal suggests the making whole of wounds, sores, etc.: to heal a burn. Remedy applies especially to making wrongs right: to remedy a mistake.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• curer
  noun
• cureless
  adjective
• half-cured
  adjective
• overcured
  adjective
• semicured
  adjective
• uncured
  adjective
• well-cured
  adjective
• curelessly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cures
  plural
• curés
  plural

Participles

• curing
  present
• cured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cure
  simple
• cures
  simple
• have cured
  perfect
• has cured
  perfect
• am curing
  progressive
• are curing
  progressive
• is curing
  progressive
• have been curing
  perfect progressive
• has been curing
  perfect progressive

Past

• cured
  simple
• had cured
  perfect
• was curing
  progressive
• were curing
  progressive
• had been curing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cure
  simple
• will have cured
  perfect
• will be curing
  progressive
• will have been curing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cure¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, Old French noun cure, from Latin cūra “care”; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of curé²

1645–55; < French, Old French; modeled on Medieval Latin cūrātus parish priest; see curate

Explanation

A cure is a treatment that ends an illness or makes you feel better. There is no cure for the common cold, or for a broken heart. Waaaaa. Many researchers focus on finding cures for diseases like cancer and diabetes — while it is possible to recover from incurable illnesses, it's not possible to cure them. You could also say, "This Florida winter is going to cure me of missing Minnesota!" When someone cures meat or fish, they smoke or salt it to preserve it. The Latin root is curare, "take care of."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cure curé cures curés cured curing

The condition, external, which can affect multiple parts of the body, can have a major impact on work, education, relationships and day-to-day life, and there is currently no cure.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

One of the simplest forces in financial markets is also one that investors tend to forget: High yields become the cure for high yields.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

There is a very real fear about trying to catch things before they happen, and often, these products are trying to market a cure for a sickness that hasn’t even happened yet.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

He was interested, Berry says, in "developing skills that would maybe at a later point allow him to cure various diseases."

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

In return he tried to make their lives comfortable, learning to cure their ills, treating their cuts and bruises as his mother treated his, combing burrs and prickles from their woolly coats.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

But this was to defraud not their curé only, but the entire Church of her dues: since "pendards" pay no funeral fees, being buried in air.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

By'r Lady," shouted the curé, "'tis strange, and small my wonder that they took you for a magician, seeing a dead face thus fired.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

But the good curé gently but adroitly parried his ingenuity, and blandly screwed him up to the market price.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

While the sexton heaved in the great weights, the curé told Gerard: "My lord had been sick unto death, and vowed his weight in bread and cheese to the poor, the Church taking her tenth."

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

"The young people give me a crown, and I undo my work handsomely; tell the curé I was misinformed; and all goes smoothly."

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

The road to new cures can be long and winding.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

It’s not a silver bullet that cures polarization, settles complicated policy debates or ensures that everyone gets along.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

"All she had read online was that it cures cancer."

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Essentially, the man appears to be opting out of the medical establishment altogether, while using his own girlfriend and his “clone baby” as experimental proving grounds for self-starter cures involving lots of peptides.

From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2026

“Not very wise, Hermes. What proper employment can they engage in, that way? I foretell the future; Aesculapius cures diseases; you are a good messenger—but these two—are they to idle away their whole time?”

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

In the case of the French curés, the crucial story was that of Christ’s life and death as told by the Catholic Church.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

All the deans, curés, clerks, beadles and the rest, both superior and inferior, who feed us with their trash.

From The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders and elsewhere by Charles de Coster

The ghelungs are the ordinary priests, and may be compared in rank and functions to the French country curés.

From Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. by Xavier Hommaire de Hell

The curés didn't like the grand airs of the Church dignitaries.

From France and the Republic A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 by William Henry Hurlbert

The Attorney-General was strongly of opinion that the right of appointing to curés, which no bishop of the Church of England had, must be abandoned.

From The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 by Charles Roger

Manganiello revealed he’s since had reconstructive surgery on his digestive tract and is seemingly cured.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

The image problem doesn't seem to have been cured by Meta's enlistment this summer of Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian's sister, as their prime model.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

In a recent case, a patient of mine learned through his portal that his previously cured cancer had returned and metastasized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Because the disorder can be treated and, in some cases, potentially cured, detecting it earlier could help reduce the risk of preventable cardiovascular complications.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

‘It is mending fast. You will soon be sound again. Elrond has cured you: he has tended you for days, ever since you were brought in.’

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

The United States spends much more on actual medical care, Cohen said, in terms of curing illnesses — but much less on preventative care.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

The goal is to manage pain and symptoms, rather than curing the illness, in the patient’s final months, weeks or days before death.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

In 2023, she became a patron of Brain Tumour Research - a charity dedicated to curing the disease.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

The foundation recommended ballot curing programs that speed up the process by utilizing a secure text platform when double checking whether a ballot is legitimate when a voter’s signature doesn’t match state records.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

My basement lab stank one last time with zincoshine preparation, six rockets curing at once.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Related Words

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