therapy

American  

[ther-uh-pee] / ˈθɛr ə pi /

noun

therapies plural

1. the treatment of disease or disorders, as by some remedial, rehabilitating, or curative process.

   speech therapy.

2. a curative power or quality.

3. psychotherapy.

4. any act, hobby, task, program, etc., that relieves tension.

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therapy British  

/ ˈθɛrəpɪ /

noun

1. 1. the treatment of physical, mental, or social disorders or disease

   2. ( in combination )

      physiotherapy

      electrotherapy

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therapy Cultural  

1. Treatment intended to cure or alleviate an illness or injury, whether physical or mental.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-therapy
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• therapies
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

therapy therapies

The “no-contact” advice that floods social media and some therapy rooms treats complex human relationships as disposable commodities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

It is a relatively new therapy – not officially recognised by the NHS across the UK – which uses charged gas particles to help kill bacteria on the skin.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026

By the time doctors introduce a second treatment, some cells may already carry mutations that protect them from that therapy as well.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

"He's ready to close this chapter and focus on his recovery and engage in therapy as he aspires to have a normal life."

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

She laughed much more than she needed to and was still at it when she signed the form recommending me for the following year's speech therapy program.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

In happier news, rising case counts have jump-started research into drugs that could treat people who do get sick, including antibody and antiviral therapies.

From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026

Additionally, surgical sales increased 6.5% and sales of transcatheter mitral and tricuspid therapies jumped 47%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

About 15 years ago, the FDA briefly granted the peptide an orphan-drug designation, which provides incentives to a developer to work on therapies for diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Using three or more therapies could place cancer cells under a series of changing pressures, making it more difficult for the tumor to produce a population capable of resisting every treatment.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

Myriad has been accused of creating a monopoly, since no one else can offer the test, and researchers can’t develop cheaper tests or new therapies without getting permission from Myriad and paying steep licensing fees.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Related Words

• analysis
• cure
• healing
• medicine
• remedy