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• cure
  cure

  noun

  a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.
• curé
  curé

  noun

  (in France) a parish priest.

cure

¹ American  

[kyoor] / kjʊər /

noun

• cures
  plural

1. a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy.

2. a method or course of remedial treatment, as for disease.

   Synonyms:

   antidote, specific, restorative, remedy

3. successful remedial treatment; restoration to health.

4. a means of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental.

   The administration is seeking a cure for inflation.

5. the act or a method of preserving meat, fish, etc., by smoking, salting, or the like.

6. spiritual or religious charge of the people in a certain district.

7. the office or district of a curate or parish priest.

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verb (used with object)

• cures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cured,
  past participle,  past
• curing
  present participle

1. to restore to health.

2. to relieve or rid of something detrimental, such as an illness or a bad habit.

3. to correct (a document, especially a mail-in ballot) in order to make it valid.

   If the voter’s signature is missing, the county board sends them a certification form allowing the voter to cure the ballot so it can be counted.

4. to prepare (meat, fish, etc.) for preservation by salting, drying, etc.

5. to promote hardening of (fresh concrete or mortar), as by keeping it damp.

6. to process (rubber, tobacco, etc.) as by fermentation or aging.

verb (used without object)

• cures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cured,
  past participle,  past
• curing
  present participle

1. to effect a cure.

2. to become cured.

curé ² American  

[kyoo-ray, kyoor-ay, ky-ray] / kjʊˈreɪ, ˈkjʊər eɪ, küˈreɪ /

noun

• curés
  plural

1. (in France) a parish priest.

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cure ¹ British  

/ kjʊə /

verb

1. (tr) to get rid of (an ailment, fault, or problem); heal

2. (tr) to restore to health or good condition

3. (intr) to bring about a cure

4. (tr) to preserve (meat, fish, etc) by salting, smoking, etc

5. (tr)

   1. to treat or finish (a substance) by chemical or physical means

   2. to vulcanize (rubber)

   3. to allow (a polymer) to set often using heat or pressure

6. (tr) to assist the hardening of (concrete, mortar, etc) by keeping it moist

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noun

1. a return to health, esp after specific treatment

2. any course of medical therapy, esp one proved effective in combating a disease

3. a means of restoring health or improving a condition, situation, etc

4. the spiritual and pastoral charge of a parish

   the cure of souls

5. a process or method of preserving meat, fish, etc, by salting, pickling, or smoking

curé ² British  

/ ˈkjʊəreɪ /

noun

1. a parish priest in France

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cure Idioms  

1. see kill or cure; ounce of prevention (is worth a pound of cure); sure cure.

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Synonym Usage

Cure, heal, remedy imply making well, whole, or right. Cure is applied to the eradication of disease or sickness: to cure a headache. Heal suggests the making whole of wounds, sores, etc.: to heal a burn. Remedy applies especially to making wrongs right: to remedy a mistake.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• curer
  noun
• cureless
  adjective
• half-cured
  adjective
• overcured
  adjective
• semicured
  adjective
• uncured
  adjective
• well-cured
  adjective
• curelessly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cures
  plural
• curés
  plural

Participles

• curing
  present
• cured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cure
  simple
• cures
  simple
• have cured
  perfect
• has cured
  perfect
• am curing
  progressive
• are curing
  progressive
• is curing
  progressive
• have been curing
  perfect progressive
• has been curing
  perfect progressive

Past

• cured
  simple
• had cured
  perfect
• was curing
  progressive
• were curing
  progressive
• had been curing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cure
  simple
• will have cured
  perfect
• will be curing
  progressive
• will have been curing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of cure¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, Old French noun cure, from Latin cūra “care”; verb derivative of the noun

Origin of curé²

1645–55; < French, Old French; modeled on Medieval Latin cūrātus parish priest; see curate

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Explanation

A cure is a treatment that ends an illness or makes you feel better. There is no cure for the common cold, or for a broken heart. Waaaaa. Many researchers focus on finding cures for diseases like cancer and diabetes — while it is possible to recover from incurable illnesses, it's not possible to cure them. You could also say, "This Florida winter is going to cure me of missing Minnesota!" When someone cures meat or fish, they smoke or salt it to preserve it. The Latin root is curare, "take care of."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cure curé cures curés cured curing

From the potential to cure cancer and a huge cushion of cash to humans losing control of AI models, here’s what stood out in Anthropic’s S-1 filing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

"This temporal window holds profound significance, as attaining such early detection would substantially augment the probability of cure and improved survival," highlight the researchers.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026

ME has no known cure or specific treatment, with patients often relying on off-label medication to manage a condition that can cause more than 200 symptoms, including nausea, headaches, poor cognitive function and brain fog.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

In commodity markets, Hayes opines, “high prices cure high prices,” meaning that the huge margins that were on offer for the chip makers will evaporate because of the intensifying competition for cheaper suppliers.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

In the next five years, Jim calculated, they’d have to treat about two thousand chronic MDR patients and cure at least 80 percent.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

You said 'I will not confess to the curé, but to some friar who knows not my misdeeds.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

By'r Lady," shouted the curé, "'tis strange, and small my wonder that they took you for a magician, seeing a dead face thus fired.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

"Mayhap 'twas for that I did propose it," said the curé subtly.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

The curé was had to the christening dinner as usual; but, ere he would baptize the children, he demanded, not the christening fees only, but the burial fees.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

The curé politely but firmly objected to that too.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

Surgery cures most breast cancers, but if some disease remains, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy can reduce the long-term risk.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

I work for a company that supports better healthcare payment decisions and believes technology can guide patients to cures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

It’s not a silver bullet that cures polarization, settles complicated policy debates or ensures that everyone gets along.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026

"All she had read online was that it cures cancer."

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

I need to look like a black-market dealer, someone rich enough to afford plague cures.

From "Legend" by Marie Lu

In the case of the French curés, the crucial story was that of Christ’s life and death as told by the Catholic Church.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

The ghelungs are the ordinary priests, and may be compared in rank and functions to the French country curés.

From Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, &c. by Xavier Hommaire de Hell

The curés saw in Buonaparte the restorer of the Catholic religion.

From The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 by Charles Roger

These volumes are rather dreary reading, it must be admitted, consisting chiefly of the record of the building or improvement of the church and of the coming and the going of the curés.

From A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861 by George McKinnon Wrong

Laval continued to dispute from time to time with the Home Government concerning the system of movable curés which had been instituted by him.

From The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volumes 1 to 4 by John Charles Dent

The meat, cured at Burbank’s RC Provisions with a proprietary recipe developed by Al Langer, still gets a lengthy — and costly — steaming after it arrives at the restaurant.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Because the disorder can be treated and, in some cases, potentially cured, detecting it earlier could help reduce the risk of preventable cardiovascular complications.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026

Because the donor marrow produced normal red blood cells, her SCD was cured.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

A handful of sellers gather in front of the burnt-out shell offering tomatoes, cheese and cured meets on makeshift tables.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

He knows it’s unlikely Vincent will ever be cured, and certainly not completely.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

"We have a technically feasible path to curing cancer," he says.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

After years of AI leaders teasing the possibility of curing cancer, Google DeepMind co-founder and scientist Demis Hassabis said that to change doubters’ minds about AI, it’s time to actually cure cancer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

The couple created the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization whose efforts include curing, managing and preventing all diseases.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

The United States spends much more on actual medical care, Cohen said, in terms of curing illnesses — but much less on preventative care.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

He sought out experienced hunters around town and asked them for tips about stalking game, dressing animals, curing meat.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

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