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  • cure
    cure
    noun
    a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.
  • curé
    curé
    noun
    (in France) a parish priest.
Synonyms

cure

1 American  
[kyoor] / kyʊər /

noun

  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.


verb (used with object)

cured, curing
  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)

cured, curing
  1. to effect a cure.

  2. to become cured.

curé 2 American  
[kyoo-rey, kyoor-ey, ky-rey] / kyʊˈreɪ, ˈkyʊər eɪ, küˈreɪ /

noun

curés plural
  1. (in France) a parish priest.


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

"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

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

"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
curé 2 British  
/ ˈkjʊəreɪ /

noun

  1. a parish priest in France

"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

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


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

Inflected Forms

noun

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."

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Vocabulary lists containing cure

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.

It was lucky for our magician that he had already told his tale in full to the curé: for thus that shrewd personage had hold of the stick at the right end.

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

On this the curé agreed to marry the young couple next day at ten: and the professional obstructor of bliss went home with Gerard's angel.

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

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 Reade, Charles

The parish was small, the parishioners greedy; and never gave their curé a doit more than he could compel.

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

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 Gautier, Th?ophile

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