sanitarium
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of sanitarium
1850–55; < Latin sānit ( ās ) health ( see sanity) + -ārium -ary
Explanation
In the past, someone who was recovering from a long-term illness might stay at a sanitarium, a special kind of hospital. Many sanitariums in the U.S. once treated patients with tuberculosis. A sanitarium was also often called a sanatorium. Even more confusingly, both words were sometimes used to mean "health resort," something closer to a spa than a hospital. Before antibiotics were invented, the most effective treatment for tuberculosis and other lung diseases was fresh air and healthy food at a sanitarium. The word is rooted in the Latin sanitas, "health."
Vocabulary lists containing sanitarium
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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The Pigman
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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.
Barbara Stanwyck plays a celebrated concert pianist being treated for tuberculosis in an elite Swiss Alps sanitarium.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
By the time he was released, on May 26, his children had been flown to a sanitarium called Poliany, a strictly guarded institution near Moscow.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 29, 2023
She found him, finally, in a sanitarium on April 6.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 29, 2023
Their mother is stuck in a nearby sanitarium, suffering from an undisclosed illness.
From New York Times • Jul. 19, 2023
Did he do his work right there in the sanitarium, or did they rent him a little office where he could get away from all the noise?
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
