therapy
Americannoun
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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
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.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January 2025 and began hormone therapy.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
The CEO also said that upcoming data releases for its vopimetostat single agent in lung cancer and its TNG456 therapy in glioblastoma represent “significant long-term opportunity” for the company.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Her husband’s income, from his therapy practice, supports the household.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
His two youngest children, now both in high school, started therapy last year to cope with the uncertainty.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
Tuesdays are the worst, because in the afternoon, she has to get Haley to gymnastics and my other younger sister, Semaj, to physical therapy.
From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner
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.
