treat
Americanverb (used with object)
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treats,
present (3rd person singular)
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treated,
past participle, past
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treating
present participle
-
to act or behave toward (a person) in some specified way.
to treat someone with respect.
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to consider or regard in a specified way, and deal with accordingly.
to treat a matter as unimportant.
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to deal with (a disease, patient, etc.) in order to relieve or cure.
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to deal with in speech or writing; discuss.
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to deal with, develop, or represent artistically, especially in some specified manner or style.
to treat a theme realistically.
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to subject to some agent or action in order to bring about a particular result.
to treat a substance with an acid.
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to entertain; give hospitality to.
He treats diplomats in the lavish surroundings of his country estate.
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to provide food, entertainment, gifts, etc., at one's own expense.
Let me treat you to dinner.
verb (used without object)
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treats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
treated,
past participle, past
-
treating
present participle
-
to deal with a subject in speech or writing; discourse.
a work that treats of the caste system in India.
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to give, or bear the expense of, a treat.
Is it my turn to treat?
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to carry on negotiations with a view to a settlement; discuss terms of settlement; negotiate.
noun
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treats
plural
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entertainment, food, drink, etc., given by way of compliment or as an expression of friendly regard.
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anything that affords particular pleasure or enjoyment.
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the act of treating.
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one's turn to treat.
noun
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a celebration, entertainment, gift, or feast given for or to someone and paid for by another
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any delightful surprise or specially pleasant occasion
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the act of treating
verb
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(tr) to deal with or regard in a certain manner
she treats school as a joke
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(tr) to apply treatment to
to treat a patient for malaria
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(tr) to subject to a process or to the application of a substance
to treat photographic film with developer
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(tr; often foll by to) to provide (someone) (with) as a treat
he treated the children to a trip to the zoo
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formal to deal (with), as in writing or speaking
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formal (intr) to discuss settlement; negotiate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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treaternoun
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overtreatverb
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nontreatedadjective
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self-treatedadjective
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treatableadjective
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untreatedadjective
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well-treatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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treatsimple
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treatssimple
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have treatedperfect
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has treatedperfect
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am treatingprogressive
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are treatingprogressive
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is treatingprogressive
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have been treatingperfect progressive
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has been treatingperfect progressive
Past
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treatedsimple
-
had treatedperfect
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was treatingprogressive
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were treatingprogressive
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had been treatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of treat
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English verb treten, from Old French tretier, traitier, from Latin tractāre “to drag, handle, treat,” frequentative of trahere “to drag”; see tract 1
Explanation
If you've been working hard and living thriftily for months on end, give yourself a treat: take the night off and go out to dinner and a movie. One sense of treat has to do with pleasures and special occasions. You might treat your mother to a pedicure, or give your dog a tasty treat. Treat can also mean "to carry on negotiations," (the meaning that feeds into treaty), or "to take care of." A doctor treats your illness with medication. If you treat a boy as an adult, that means you act as though he is one, even if he's only 16. Treat him carefully!
Vocabulary lists containing treat
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"Water at Work"
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"On the Menu" and "Find the Adaptations"
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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:
“So knowing that they treat their families like that, and have their families around us, I appreciate it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Doctors were able to treat the condition and she spent six years in remission.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
The FDA approved the first medication to treat narcolepsy by targeting a brain chemical that regulates wakefulness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
For that reason, treat it as a wash.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
I came to understand that the way for an old donkey to survive a trek in the world’s harshest desert is for his master to treat him like his own grandmother.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
A pullback on discretionary items, from holiday decor to dog treats, that began late last year only deepened in the company’s latest quarter, particularly in May.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
"We can reward our dogs with treats, but also reward them with happiness," said Cuaya.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Each of us took turns spinning a bottle until it pointed to a cat, who joyfully received cat treats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Investors will also be looking to see how management treats its spending forecasts, Benchmark analyst Yi Fu Lee told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Jinjoo needed to save them, as they were the most filling of the treats.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
She was rescued and transferred to the Ojai Raptor Center, where experts treated her until her death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
“Markets treated the report as a meaningful challenge to near term Fed rate hike expectations, effectively concluding the Fed has time on its side,” National Australia Bank senior FX strategist Rodrigo Catril said in commentary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
"Markets treated the report as a meaningful challenge to near term Fed rate hike expectations, effectively concluding the Fed has time on its side," wrote National Australia Bank's Rodrigo Catril.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
The situation at Birmingham Airport would be "treated very significantly because it's no bags getting on, rather than a couple," Rowland said.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and it might be easy to imagine that Paul Jennings could never forgive the way Dolley Madison had treated him.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Knox, and the administration of the school, are treating this reunion as the initial seed for the rehabilitation of the athletics program and hopefully the entire school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Its mistake was treating every company in the chain as the same trade.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
“A lot of people who are coming onto the pill are individuals that basically are increasingly interested about treating themselves with GLP-1s, but do not want an injection,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
With dinner already half-imagined, I could pass the tomatoes and melons without treating each one as an alternate future I might regret abandoning.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
In peacetime, however, in a well-staffed, well-stocked American emergency room, triage isn’t about withholding care from anyone; rather, it’s identifying the patients in the gravest danger and treating them first.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
