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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

In September Rene Haas, the boss of chip designer Arm, told the BBC he believed the tech would come up with a cure for cancer "within our lifetime".

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

“The star will cure and will be polished on Friday for fans to enjoy,” Martinez said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Granda had started a cough and Celia stayed with him to give him some of the cure I had made with Anna’s garlic.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

When my lord did this, and so fell into the trap he had laid for holy Church, the good curé whispered to Gerard, "Cretensis incidit in Cretensem!" which I take to mean, "Diamond cut diamond."

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

"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

He went to bid the curé farewell instead, and sought and received his blessing.

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

Well, one fine day they met in secret, and sent a churchwarden with a complaint to the bishop, and a thunderbolt fell on the poor curé.

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

Instantly they were alone the curé unlocked his countenance and was himself again.

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

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

He largely dismisses AI’s potential benefits, such as faster and less expensive drug development and medical cures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

“Allah cures our illnesses,” said the man, clearly frightened of the strangers.

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

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

Our fellow-travellers consisted of a couple of greasy, black-haired, sallow-faced curés, two farmers' wives with a puking child each, our own portly self, and the sixth passenger.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 357, June, 1845 by Various

With the curés no direct communication with the government existed.

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

The curés saw in Buonaparte the restorer of the Catholic religion.

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

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

While it cannot be cured, there are treatments that can help manage it.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 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

He arches back: “We don’t keep you here until you are cured of anything; we keep you here until you are stable—we call it ‘establishing the baseline.’”

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

Company executives and U.S. officials said that strict rules could strangle an industry capable of supercharging global growth and curing diseases.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

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 men chopped off the larger pieces of meat and laid them in the smokehouse to begin the curing process.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

Related Words

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