restorative

American  

[ri-stawr-uh-tiv, -stohr-] / rɪˈstɔr ə tɪv, -ˈstoʊr- /

adjective

1. serving to restore; pertaining to restoration.

2. capable of renewing health or strength.

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noun

• restoratives
  plural

1. a restorative agent, means, or the like.

2. a means of restoring a person to consciousness.

   Smelling salts serve as a restorative.

restorative British  

/ rɪˈstɒrətɪv /

adjective

1. tending to revive or renew health, spirits, etc

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noun

1. anything that restores or revives, esp a drug or agent that promotes health or strength

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonrestorative
  adjective
• unrestorative
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• restoratives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of restorative

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English restoratif (adjective and noun), from Middle French restauratif, from Latin restaurāt(us) (past participle of restaurāre “to rebuild, repair”; see restore) + Middle French -if -ive

Explanation

Restorative things give you energy or make you feel better. Your dad might have a favorite restorative chicken soup he makes you whenever you have a cold. Antibiotics can be restorative to a patient with an infection, and a good night's sleep is almost always restorative, no matter how tired you are. If something brings you back to life or helps you recover, it's restorative. Sometimes people use this word as a noun, to mean "medicine for strength." Restorative has a Latin root, restaurare, "repair, rebuild, or renew."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

restorative restoratives

She told The Times she has been assigned to a restorative justice drug court and consulted on police misconduct cases for the public defender’s accountability unit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Increasingly, the focus is shifting toward what the brain is actually doing during the night and whether that sleep is biologically restorative.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

The potential for conflict bursts into the open at a seaside home that has been in Ye-ji’s husband’s family for years, where the group has decamped for a supposedly restorative holiday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

Another said teachers needed to try harder at restorative justice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

I got this one typed up as Miss Volker stretched out on the couch and took a restorative nap.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

I call them restoratives, as they replenish and nourish me.

From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2022

Chains such as Lush, the U.K.-based company with 200 U.S. stores, and Ulta Beauty, which has 1,100 stores, have both benefited from rising demand for moderately priced cosmetics, bath gels and other personal restoratives.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2020

Subsequently he was removed to Wagner’s hotel, where restoratives were administered by the attending physician.

From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2019

Barnips Lozenges, Coltsfoot Rock, and Teddy Gray's Herbal Tablets are among the old-fashioned restoratives still occupying a place in our medicine cabinets.

From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2016

She administered what restoratives she had at hand, and presently the constantly moving lips got out the words, "Read it;" and Colonel Tempest pointed to a letter on the floor.

From Diana Tempest, Volume III (of 3) by Mary Cholmondeley