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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-rey, kyoor-ey, ky-rey] / 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

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

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

"That is the IPO story in essay form: we are the responsible firm; we are the cure; buy the safety premium," he posted on X, referring to widely expected initial public offering.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

"The same information that can be used to develop a biological weapon could also be used to develop, for example, a vaccine or a cure for a disease," Anthropic said.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

A heart transplant is currently the only cure for heart failure.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

Add to which, the economy suffers an anemia Berlin is struggling to cure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

"Get your genuine Manhattan rainwater here! Guaranteed to cure anything! Just a hundred bucks and you'll live forever!"

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Then the curé steeped the thumb of St. Sergius in beef broth.

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

"The young people give me a crown, and I undo my work handsomely; tell the curé I was misinformed; and all goes smoothly."

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

The man consented as eagerly, and went with Gerard to the curé, and told him he had made a ridiculous mistake, which a sight of the parties had rectified.

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

Then the curé guessed where the shoe pinched.

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

If A.I. companies got into certain commercial models, they could start promoting sponsored results, such as pseudoscientific cures.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

Shortly after, the company that brought one of the first sickle-cell cures, Lyfgenia, to patients, ran out of money and was sold.

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

“One cubic centimetre cures ten gloomy . But, I say!”

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

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

Meanwhile, the letters in which Turgot explained his views and wishes to the curés, by them to be imparted to their parishes, are masterpieces of the care, the patience, the interest, of a good ruler.

From Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3) Turgot by John Morley

But while delighting to describe the virtues of these denizens of the forests, these amiable fauns and jolly satyrs, I must not forget those jovial trencher-men, the curés of Le Morvan.

From Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches by William Jesse

The sick man pushed one of his hands against the curés coif, shoving him back and cried, turning abruptly to the other side, 'Let me die in peace.'

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 3 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Lectures by Robert Green Ingersoll

These were country neighbors, curés, and bailiffs of adjacent estates.

From The Vicomte de Bragelonne Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" by Alexandre Dumas père

"When I was sad or lonely, everything would be cured when I drew pictures," she said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

For years, doctors treated patients suffering from severe, chronic hepatitis C with an expensive drug regimen that required six to 12 months of treatment, had nasty side effects and rarely cured the disease.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

Pericana lands dark and red and glistening with oil, a spread for bread made with sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, and cured fish.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

Whatever they gave me there cured the pain.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

The Camenae began as useful and practical goddesses who cared for springs and wells and cured disease and foretold the future.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

After the flower is sufficiently “crispy,” she sits at an L-shaped desk overlooking her makeshift garden and coats individual petals with resin up to six times, curing them under a UV light between coats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Before her death Lomas raised £925,000 for the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, external - a charity committed to funding research into curing spinal cord injury.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

“So they don’t need to spend as much on curing illness; they spend a lot more on getting services in place to prevent illness,” he said.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

The goal is to manage pain and symptoms, rather than curing the illness, in the patient’s final months, weeks or days before death.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

He spent the remaining thirteen years of his life curing diseases and battling opponents with his customary stubborn ferocity.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

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