treatment
Americannoun
-
treatments
plural
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an act or manner of treating.
- Synonyms:
- approach, conduct, management, handling
-
action or behavior toward a person, animal, etc.
-
management in the application of medicines, surgery, etc.
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literary or artistic handling, especially with reference to style.
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subjection to some agent or action.
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Movies, Television. a preliminary outline of a film or teleplay laying out the key scenes, characters, and locales.
noun
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the application of medicines, surgery, psychotherapy, etc, to a patient or to a disease or symptom
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the manner of handling or dealing with a person or thing, as in a literary or artistic work
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the act, practice, or manner of treating
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films an expansion of a script into sequence form, indicating camera angles, dialogue, etc
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slang the usual manner of dealing with a particular type of person (esp in the phrase give someone the ( full ) treatment )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of treatment
Explanation
Treatment has to do with how someone or something is managed or handled. Hopefully you get the royal treatment when you choose the deluxe pedicure treatment! You know how some people treat you with respect but others don't treat you so nicely? You can refer to how people act toward you as treatment. If a restaurant is known for rude treatment of customers, people will stop going there. Doctors also use the word treatment when they discuss a particular medical course of action — such as chemotherapy as a treatment for cancer. The root word is the Latin tractare, which originally meant "drag about," but came to mean "manage, handle, or deal with."
Vocabulary lists containing treatment
Words to Know Before You Defrost the Bird
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"Water at Work"
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Lessons 4–5
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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:
“In a world of nationalism and tribalism, of this and that, us and them,” Mr. Basciano tells us, treatment of leprosy “was a crime—but leprosy also gave space in which empathy and solidarity grew.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The treatment recruited the body's own immune cells, encouraged the formation of new blood vessels, supported changes in neural tissue, and improved motor function in the animals.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
Both men were reported to be in stable condition, and were receiving treatment in a Kathmandu hospital, the energy ministry said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Some of those affected required hospital treatment, with some students being transported in wheelchairs because they were too weak to stand.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
It was an unmanageable situation, but the Daughters of Charity were relentless in their efforts to make Carville a clean, respectable, and renowned site for the treatment of leprosy.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Several treatments and vaccines are being tested against the Bundibugyo strain.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Cosmetic procedures—including surgeries and minimally invasive treatments, like fillers and injections—are indeed increasing in popularity.
From Slate ● Sep. 2, 2026
Morgan said in a separate note that detailed data would be required to fully assess the drug’s efficacy profile relative to Roche’s rival oral multiple sclerosis drug candidate fenebrutinib and another class of treatments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The material functions both as a sustained-release drug delivery system and as a viscosupplement, meaning it could potentially improve joint lubrication while simultaneously delivering treatments aimed at the underlying disease.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
I get my treatments, I take my medicine, I drink my body weight in milk shakes, I get to see Barb and Julie, I leave until my next flare-up.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
