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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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.
The collaboration comes with the incentive of expanding the application of Sail’s in vivo CAR-T platform across additional therapeutic targets over time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The researchers hope their findings will point to new therapeutic targets.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
Another company, Denteric, is developing a therapeutic vaccine designed to help patients who already have gum disease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Approval should rest on targeted clinical studies showing comparable therapeutic benefit, not on demonstrating molecular replication of the reference drug, as in the large-molecule biosimilar paradigm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Feels like all I do is color since Daddy read in some article that it’s therapeutic for me.
From "Monday's Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson
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.
