remedy
Americannoun
-
remedies
plural
-
something that cures or relieves a disease or bodily disorder; a healing medicine, application, or treatment.
- Synonyms:
- medication, medicament, specific, restorative, cure
-
something that corrects or removes an evil of any kind.
- Synonyms:
- antidote, corrective
-
Law. legal redress; the legal means of enforcing a right or redressing a wrong.
-
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
noun
-
any drug or agent that cures a disease or controls its symptoms
-
anything that serves to put a fault to rights, cure defects, improve conditions, etc
a remedy for industrial disputes
-
the legally permitted variation from the standard weight or quality of coins; tolerance
verb
-
to relieve or cure (a disease, illness, etc) by or as if by a remedy
-
to put to rights (a fault, error, etc); correct
Synonym Usage
See cure.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
remedysimple
-
remediessimple
-
have remediedperfect
-
has remediedperfect
-
am remedyingprogressive
-
are remedyingprogressive
-
is remedyingprogressive
-
have been remedyingperfect progressive
-
has been remedyingperfect progressive
Past
-
remediedsimple
-
had remediedperfect
-
was remedyingprogressive
-
were remedyingprogressive
-
had been remedyingperfect progressive
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.
Vocabulary lists containing remedy
Vocabulary from Beyoncé's "Lemonade"
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act IV
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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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:
In the New Mexico case, the First Judicial Court in Santa Fe determined that Meta’s conduct created a “public nuisance” and ordered the company to create a fund to remedy harms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
He was also wrong to present vitamin C as a near-universal remedy for many illnesses.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
“We’re seeing some very significant constraints currently with limited flexibility in the supply chain to remedy it,” CEO Tim Cook said on the earnings call.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
"We're seeing some very significant constraints currently with limited flexibility in the supply chain to remedy it," Cook said.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
And what was the remedy for the dangers of exhaustion?
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
Vitamin C was filed away with other “alternative” remedies, and Pauling’s late-career crusade was widely seen as a sad mistake.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Apple said in its filing Monday that OpenAI didn’t respond to messages to its general counsel or to a letter articulating concerns about trade secrets leaking and asking to discuss possible remedies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
And Johns Hopkins has launched a three-year program to research remedies, including waivers in the case of long-established doctor-patient relationships.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
A further trial is also scheduled for October this year to determine the consequences of any actionable breaches and any issues relating to damages or other remedies.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Not because of a lack of faith in her mother’s remedies.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
The resulting racing inefficiencies can be remedied with market designs that slow the pace of trading, but more accurate clocks will not solve the underlying problem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Much to the astronauts' relief, Koch remedied the issue with the toilet aboard Orion -- "I'm proud to call myself the space plumber," she said during a Q&A session late Thursday with US media.
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 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
Still, neither a soft spot in the schedule nor the realities of the calendar has remedied that issue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025
A very basic security flaw, and one that would have to be remedied once this business was over.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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
It’s the easy way out — and remedying wrongs is never easy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 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 truce extension will give more time for negotiations about "remedying trade imbalances" and "unfair trade practices", the White House said.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025
Fizz is prone to remedying me and would invariably seek the answer to my “problem.”
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
