remedy
Americannoun
-
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)
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:
The best remedy is George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for urgent action to remedy the plight of thousands of seafarers caught up in the Middle East war, his spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Carvalho’s representative acknowledged that entries should have been included on Carvalho’s forms, but an appropriate remedy, for example, would be for Carvalho to amend and correct the forms — and be subject to a fine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
The dissent also claims the Court’s ruling leaves the plaintiff “without a remedy for the significant harms he has suffered.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
“Well, I have as much respect for ancient learning as you do, but I don’t know that I’d want to stake my life on some home remedy from the Middle Ages.”
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Employees must first exhaust their administrative remedies at an agency that cannot decide their case.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 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
But he was also predisposed to remedies that would not require what he described as “a priori, the sacrifice of the energy value of oil, gas, and coal.”
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
I mentioned that Councilmember Monica Rodriguez has been using Conservation Corps youths to do the same, but it’s time to scale up that program and come up with other remedies to speed the process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
One of the best and most efficacious remedies would be for the person who has taken possession of them to go there to live.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
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
Masli remedied this problem by introducing her to someone who vaguely claimed to be of German extraction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025
She insulted and encouraged, pushed and poked, brewed and stewed and remedied.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
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.
