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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-rey, kyoor-ey, ky-rey] / 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

At age 32, he was diagnosed with a rare type of muscular dystrophy and has since pledged $100 million of his own money to find a cure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

"That is the IPO story in essay form: we are the responsible firm; we are the cure; buy the safety premium," he posted on X, referring to widely expected initial public offering.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

The condition often requires multiple surgeries, which are not a cure.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

A heart transplant is currently the only cure for heart failure.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

“Your friend was right to bring you here, but as I told him just before, you are very ill. That water will not cure the true sickness.”

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

"He is more churchman than layman, being convent bred, and in the lesser orders," said the ready curé.

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

You said 'I will not confess to the curé, but to some friar who knows not my misdeeds.

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

After the funeral rites Gerard stepped respectfully up to the curé, and offered to buy a mass for their souls.

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

It was an anomaly for which I could not account—whether I believed myself to be the curé of the little village of C——, or Il Signor Romualdo, the titled lover of Clarimonde.

From One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances One of Cleopatra's Nights?Clarimonde?Arria Marcella?The Mummy's Foot?Omphale: a Rococo Story?King Candaules by Th?ophile Gautier

The curé speedily closed out the light with a wooden shutter.

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

If A.I. companies got into certain commercial models, they could start promoting sponsored results, such as pseudoscientific cures.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 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

But increased funding streams for education and addiction treatments are Band-Aids, not cures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

“Do you know someone here who cures people’s illnesses?” the boy asked.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

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

What an admirable piece of buffoonery! these curés going in turn to shrive the writers of the eighteenth century, and having flung at their heads epigrams composed for the occasion, perhaps, ten years before.

From The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 by Various

Once or twice the boys saw gentlemen, whom Master Lewis said were curés, at work in cool, green gardens; and often they met the pretty sight of women and girls at work in the fields.

From Zigzag Journeys in Europe Vacation Rambles in Historic Lands by Hezekiah Butterworth

Laval continued to dispute from time to time with the Home Government concerning the system of movable curés which had been instituted by him.

From The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volumes 1 to 4 by John Charles Dent

While the question was before the Sorbonne, the curés of Paris published various writings, under the name of ‘Facta,’ in support of the conclusions to which they had come. 

From Pascal by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

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

"When I was sad or lonely, everything would be cured when I drew pictures," she said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

For years, doctors treated patients suffering from severe, chronic hepatitis C with an expensive drug regimen that required six to 12 months of treatment, had nasty side effects and rarely cured the disease.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

Of course ‘made to work’ is a slippery concept: plenty of alchemists thought they had seen base metal turn into gold, and plenty of doctors thought they had cured their patients through bloodletting.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Before her death Lomas raised £925,000 for the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, external - a charity committed to funding research into curing spinal cord injury.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

“So they don’t need to spend as much on curing illness; they spend a lot more on getting services in place to prevent illness,” he said.

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

Her parents both work in the medical field, which helps her keep perspective: “I’m not performing brain surgery or curing cancer,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

“The breakfast table should not be a bulletin-board for the curing of horrible dreams and depressing symptoms, but the place where a bright key-note of the day is struck.”

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

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