cure

[kyoor]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cure ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.

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

successful remedial treatment; restoration to health.

a means of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental: to seek a cure for inflation.

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

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

the office or district of a curate or parish priest.

verb (used with object), cured, cur·ing.

to restore to health.

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

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

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

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

verb (used without object), cured, cur·ing.

to effect a cure.

to become cured.

Origin of cure

1250–1300; (v.) Middle English curen < Middle French curer < Latin cūrāre to take care of, derivative of cūra care; (noun) Middle English < Old French cure < Latin cūra

Related formscure·less, adjectivecure·less·ly, adverbcur·er, nounhalf-cured, adjectiveo·ver·cured, adjectivesem·i·cured, adjectiveun·cured, adjectivewell-cured, adjective

Synonyms for cure

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cure ON THESAURUS.COM

2. remedy, restorative, specific, antidote.

Synonym study

9. 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.

curé

[kyoo-rey, kyoo r-ey; French ky-rey]

noun, plural cu·rés [kyoo-reyz, kyoo r-eyz; French ky-rey] /kyʊˈreɪz, ˈkyʊər eɪz; French küˈreɪ/.

(in France) a parish priest.

Origin of curé

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cure

medication, recovery, fix, drug, remedy, panacea, treatment, elixir, medicine, antidote, healing, placebo, restore, repair, relieve, rehabilitate, mend, redress, treat, alleviate

Examples from the Web for cure

Contemporary Examples of cure

In 2007 he said he had discovered a cure for AIDS using natural herbs.
The Shadowy U.S. Veteran Who Tried to Overthrow a Country
Jacob Siegel
January 6, 2015
For Randy, a 50-year-old ex-Mormon gay man, this cure was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Your Husband Is Definitely Gay: TLC’s Painful Portrait of Mormonism
Samantha Allen
January 1, 2015
The transfusions are not a cure, but are a second line of defense for the body.
Blood Is Ebola’s Weapon and Weakness
Abby Haglage
October 26, 2014
Regrow limbs, cure cancer, or rock a killer outfit à la Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element.
I Want My Damn Hoverboard! 12 Movie Inventions That Should Exist
Rich Goldstein
October 25, 2014
Right off the bat, the “Doing Our Bit for the Cure” campaign seemed peculiar.
The Misogynistic Companies Jumping On The Breast Cancer Bandwagon
Emily Shire
October 16, 2014

Historical Examples of cure

If she had, now, she might cure some decent girl of her infatuation.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
They also appear to have successfully applied it to the cure of diseases.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
An accurate knowledge of our defects will soonest lead to their cure.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
It is not strange that when we have swallowed the dose it does little to effect a cure.
The Conquest of Fear
Basil King
Yes, that we may consider and see what ought to have been done to cure him.
The Imaginary Invalid
Molire

British Dictionary definitions for cure

cure

verb

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

(tr) to restore to health or good condition

(intr) to bring about a cure

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

(tr)

to treat or finish (a substance) by chemical or physical means
to vulcanize (rubber)
to allow (a polymer) to set often using heat or pressure

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

noun

a return to health, esp after specific treatment

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

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

the spiritual and pastoral charge of a parishthe cure of souls

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

Derived Formscureless, adjectivecurer, noun

Word Origin for cure

(n) C13: from Old French, from Latin cūra care; in ecclesiastical sense, from Medieval Latin cūra spiritual charge; (vb) C14: from Old French curer, from Latin cūrāre to attend to, heal, from cūra care

curé

noun

a parish priest in France

Word Origin for curé

French, from Medieval Latin cūrātus; see curate 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cure

n.1

c.1300, "care, heed," from Latin cura "care, concern, trouble," with many figurative extensions, e.g. "study; administration; a mistress," and also "means of healing, remedy," from Old Latin coira-, from PIE root *kois- "be concerned." Meaning "medical care" is late 14c.

n.2

parish priest, from French curé (13c.), from Medieval Latin curatus (see curate).

late 14c., from Old French curer, from Latin curare "take care of," hence, in medical language, "treat medically, cure" (see cure (n.)). In reference to fish, pork, etc., first recorded 1743. Related: Cured; curing.

Most words for "cure, heal" in European languages originally applied to the person being treated but now can be used with reference to the disease, too. Relatively few show an ancient connection to words for "physician;" typically they are connected instead to words for "make whole" or "tend to" or even "conjurer." French guérir (with Italian guarir, Old Spanish guarir) is from a Germanic verb stem also found in in Gothic warjan, Old English wearian "ward off, prevent, defend" (see warrant (n.)).

cure in Medicine

cure

[kyur]

n.

Restoration of health; recovery from disease.

A method or course of treatment used to restore health.

An agent that restores health; a remedy.

v.

To restore a person to health.

To effect a recovery from a disease or disorder.

Idioms and Phrases with cure

cure

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