therapeutic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
-
of or relating to the treatment of disease; curative
-
serving or performed to maintain health
therapeutic abortion
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of therapeutic
1535–45; < New Latin therapeuticus < Greek therapeutikós, equivalent to therapeú ( ein ) to attend, treat medically (akin to therápōn attendant) + -tikos -tic
Explanation
Whether you’re talking about a therapeutic drug or a therapeutic exercise plan, something that is therapeutic helps to heal or to restore health. The adjective therapeutic can be traced all the way back to the Greek word therapeutikos (from therapeuein, meaning “to attend” or “to treat”). Although the word relates to healing or soothing, therapeutic isn’t reserved only for drugs or medical treatments. You’ve probably heard particular activities referred to as therapeutic, which just means that doing that activity makes you feel rejuvenated. You might consider shopping for shoes, for example, to be a therapeutic activity — at least until the credit card bill arrives.
Vocabulary lists containing therapeutic
This Week in Words: March 3 – 9, 2018
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National Nurses Week: Common Medical Terms
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Vocabulary from Academy Award Nominees and Winners
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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.
If future research confirms and expands on that connection, understanding how CRH signaling affects OPCs, myelin formation, and brain development could eventually point toward completely new therapeutic approaches.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
Kirkham also cites play as having "therapeutic value" for exploring our emotions, experiences and memories, but in a safe space.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Unlike gene re-expression strategies, SLC6A20 inhibition works by modulating endogenous signaling pathways and may offer a more practical therapeutic route," said Director Eunjoon Kim.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
His eight simple words caused me to circle the therapeutic drain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
The media tend to present each new procedure as though it represented a breakthrough and therapeutic triumph, instead of the makeshift that it really is.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
