sanatorium
Americannoun
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sanatoriums,
plural
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sanatoria
plural
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a hospital for the treatment of chronic diseases, as tuberculosis or various nervous or mental disorders.
noun
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an institution for the medical care and recuperation of persons who are chronically ill
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a health resort
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a room in a boarding school where sick pupils may be treated in isolation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sanatorium
1830–40; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin sanā ( re ) to heal + -tōrium -tory 2
Explanation
A sanatorium is a place to go when you're suffering or recuperating from a long illness. It was once common for tuberculosis patients to be treated at a sanatorium. In some parts of the world, including Russia and the Czech Republic, a sanatorium is more of a health spa, with the added benefit of available medical treatments. While there are very few sanatoriums left in North America, they were once the preferred location for chronically ill patients, especially before antibiotics for treating tuberculosis were developed in the mid-20th century. The Latin sanus, "well, healthy, or sane," is the root of sanatorium.
Vocabulary lists containing sanatorium
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:
She shared how Martin was without parents from a young age and was "sent alone to a sanatorium in London for two years" after being diagnosed with tuberculosis.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
It was once advertised as a wellness paradise, the sanatorium capital of America, a temporary resort for turn-of-the-20th century tuberculosis patients eager to seek treatment in the form of sunshine and “fresh” air.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024
Later, a group of 31 were sent to “a sanatorium for children in Moscow.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 5, 2023
The relentless 10-month war has prompted a local commander to transform a Soviet-era sanatorium into a recovery center for servicemen to treat both mental and physical ailments.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 5, 2023
Buddy's mother had even arranged for me to be given a job as a waitress at the TB sanatorium that summer so Buddy wouldn't be lonely.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
I've got a chapter in the book about travel, just because it's a really time-honored approach, from the old Swiss sanatoria right all the way back through the medieval Christian tradition of pilgrimage.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2023
Crawford estimates that in 1925 alone the couple spent a third of their income on doctors, medicines, and stays in hospitals or sanatoria.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 28, 2022
The plaintiff in the case is John Pambrun, 77, a First Nations man who spent nearly six years of his childhood in Indian hospitals and sanatoria.
From The Guardian ● May 11, 2018
Rehab centers have the feel of pre-modern sanatoria.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2016
Its dryness recommends it as a resort for consumptive patients, while the existence of a cultivated, though small, society, makes it a less doleful place of residence than are the sanatoria of the Karroo.
From Impressions of South Africa by James Bryce, Viscount Bryce
His tuberculosis, which before it killed him at age 40 led to rest “cures” at sanatoriums notable chiefly for their ineffectiveness?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The southern town of Yalta was the prime holiday destination during Soviet times, with many sanatoriums built in and around it.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 31, 2023
In the steam baths of local sanatoriums, Andropov and Gorbachev shared their fear that if reforms were not executed in the Soviet Union the economy was destined for disaster.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2022
The pandemic slammed hotels and restaurants in Davos, whose fresh air and sunlight drew sanatoriums featured in German novelist Thomas Mann’s work “The Magic Mountain”.
From Reuters ● May 16, 2022
At Arlington Heights there are several well-known sanatoriums.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 5 "Arculf" to "Armour, Philip" by Various
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.
