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remedy

American  
[rem-i-dee] / ˈrɛm ɪ di /

noun

  • remedies
    plural
  1. something that cures or relieves a disease or bodily disorder; a healing medicine, application, or treatment.

    Synonyms:
    medication, medicament, specific, restorative, cure
  2. something that corrects or removes an evil of any kind.

    Synonyms:
    antidote, corrective
  3. Law. legal redress; the legal means of enforcing a right or redressing a wrong.

  4. Coining. a certain allowance at the mint for deviation from the standard weight and fineness of coins; tolerance.


verb (used with object)

  • remedies,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • remedied,
    past participle,  past
  • remedying
    present participle
  1. to cure, relieve, or heal.

    Antonyms:
    worsen
  2. to restore to the natural or proper condition; put right.

    to remedy a matter.

    Synonyms:
    renew, redress, correct, repair
  3. to counteract or remove.

    to remedy an evil.

remedy British  
/ ˈrɛmɪdɪ /

noun

  1. any drug or agent that cures a disease or controls its symptoms

  2. anything that serves to put a fault to rights, cure defects, improve conditions, etc

    a remedy for industrial disputes

  3. the legally permitted variation from the standard weight or quality of coins; tolerance

"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

verb

  1. to relieve or cure (a disease, illness, etc) by or as if by a remedy

  2. to put to rights (a fault, error, etc); correct

"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

Synonym Usage

See cure.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of remedy

First recorded in 1175–1225; (for the noun) Middle English remedie, from Anglo-French, from Latin remedium, from re- re- + med(ērī) “to heal” ( cf. medical) + -ium -ium; (for the verb) late Middle English remedien, from Middle French remedier, from Latin remediāre, derivative of remedium

Explanation

A remedy is something that relieves or cures a problem or illness. Aloe vera is a common remedy for sunburn. If you're having trouble sleeping, the first remedy you might try is a hot bath and a cup of chamomile tea. If that doesn't help, you may resort to something stronger, like a sedative. If a streetlight shining in your window is part of the problem, you can remedy the situation with some room-darkening shades. But if it's your upstairs neighbors and their all-night partying that's keeping you awake, you may have to consider a legal remedy.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing remedy

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.

See Examples For:

Angurweet is used as a remedy for ailments including stomach ache.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

The possible remedy, however, could eventually have made the problem much worse.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

It was too late to remedy the error.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the states’ antitrust litigation, said Tuesday that Paramount’s 30-movie pledge wouldn’t be an adequate remedy for what he sees as the merger’s harms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Mother said she was going to take her to Um Ahmad, a neighbor who would give her an herbal remedy.

From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat

The pair brainstormed an idea they would later pitch to OpenAI: using AI to design remedies against AI-enabled bioweapons, and cure other scourges along the way, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

"We've been clear with the CMA throughout its investigation that it must ensure its remedies do not disproportionately impact smaller, independent practices and we've pushed back where we've had concerns," Williams said.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Yet, a majority voted to permit their production, arguing with a straight face that having “regulated peptides” was somehow better than letting people buy unvetted black-market remedies.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026

Among the remedies he’s floated, according to the Nevada Independent, is using technology to measure voters’ heartbeat as a way to verify their identity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

That was one of Papa’s remedies when her back knotted up.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

“Irregular took immediate action, and all known issues on our end were remedied and resolved weeks ago.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Speaking at a news conference, Nasa's Lori Glaze said issues including with seals and filters had now been remedied.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026

Every single person in that room revealed that they had dense breasts, which we thought could be remedied somehow through self-massage.

From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2026

"But we believe that we have remedied that," he added.

From Barron's ● Nov. 16, 2025

Where there are fewer, the deficiency may be remedied by collecting and distributing the baglike cocoons containing the eggs.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

The resolution also emphasised that reparation claims "represent a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs against Africans and people of African descent".

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026

The iOS 26.4 update improved keyboard accuracy by remedying the ghost-letter problem, but autocorrect issues persist.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

“This has been one of the holy grails of remedying the Korean discount, and there’s at least a 50-50 chance of it passing this year,” he says.

From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025

The electric vehicle company is remedying the issue by asking owners to update the vehicle’s software using a wireless network connection.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024

Fizz is prone to remedying me and would invariably seek the answer to my “problem.”

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

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