therapy
Americannoun
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therapies
plural
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the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process.
speech therapy.
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a curative power or quality.
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any act, hobby, task, program, etc., that relieves tension.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of therapy
1840–50; < New Latin therapīa < Greek therapeía healing (akin to therápōn attendant)
Explanation
Therapy is the act of caring for someone, or the method of caring. If you have a rare disease, your doctor's therapy will hopefully cure you. Therapy comes from the Greek θεραπεία, for "healing." If someone tells you she's "in therapy," she's probably talking about a psychological kind of healing. But if she's getting physical therapy, then she's getting help with a bone or muscle problem. If someone suggests an experimental therapy, that's a mode of treatment that's new. Sometimes if something non-medical makes you feel better, we call it a kind of therapy. You might like chocolate therapy, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing therapy
"The Moustache" and "Who We Really Are"
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"Yummy" by G. Neri
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Excerpt from "Bad Boy"
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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.
See Examples For:
The FDA approved Revolution Medicines’ drug Rasonque, a milestone therapy that targets a mutation in pancreatic cancer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
"It's my way of expressing myself. It's my therapy."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Rasonque, a new therapy from Revolution Medicine, is a milestone for treating a mutation that made pancreatic cancer a death sentence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Sunwoo and his colleagues are now preparing a Phase I clinical trial to test the combination therapy in people with advanced squamous cell carcinoma.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Fine, thanks. Have you ever been in therapy before?”
From "Sparrow" by Sarah Moon
"All healthcare professionals should encourage patients to adopt healthy lifestyle practices and evidence-based therapies, while also helping them reduce their consumption of ultra-processed foods," Hennekens said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
Billions of dollars are flowing into therapies targeting age-related diseases specifically.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Cell therapies that harness the immune system have transformed treatment for some cancers of the blood and lymphatic system.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
She was among more than 100 patients who have completed a pain rehabilitation programme, using exercise, talking and psychological therapies to help them understand the source of their pain.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
This means pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and universities control what research can be done on those genes, and how much resulting therapies and diagnostic tests will cost.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
