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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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.
In risky therapeutic areas, the cleanest part of the trade is often the run-up to approval, when the main question is simply whether the FDA will say yes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Growing Well Garden is part of a green social prescribing project, where gardening is used as a therapeutic tool and helps a doctor connect with her patients in a different way.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
That finding suggests the biomaterial was doing more than simply transporting therapeutic signals into the brain.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
Insilico has sustained preclinical candidate generation since 2021 across multiple therapeutic areas, supporting the repeatability of its AI-discovery process.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
In keeping with the therapeutic mores of the age, he decided to do his convalescing in Europe, where the scenery also would provide an opportunity for him to enrich his visual vocabulary.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
