treatment

American  

[treet-muhnt] / ˈtrit mənt /

noun

1. an act or manner of treating.

   Synonyms:

   approach, conduct, management, handling

2. action or behavior toward a person, animal, etc.

3. management in the application of medicines, surgery, etc.

4. literary or artistic handling, especially with reference to style.

5. subjection to some agent or action.

6. Movies, Television. a preliminary outline of a film or teleplay laying out the key scenes, characters, and locales.

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treatment British  

/ ˈtriːtmənt /

noun

1. the application of medicines, surgery, psychotherapy, etc, to a patient or to a disease or symptom

2. the manner of handling or dealing with a person or thing, as in a literary or artistic work

3. the act, practice, or manner of treating

4. films an expansion of a script into sequence form, indicating camera angles, dialogue, etc

5. slang the usual manner of dealing with a particular type of person (esp in the phrase give someone the ( full ) treatment )

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treatment Idioms  

1. see red carpet (treatment).

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Other Word Forms

• nontreatment noun
• overtreatment noun
• posttreatment adjective
• self-treatment noun

Etymology

Origin of treatment

First recorded in 1550–60; treat + -ment

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."

Example Sentences

If they confirm BPPV, the preferred treatment is a technique called the Epley maneuver—a series of guided head and body turns designed to move the displaced crystals back where they belong.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

They can open up entirely new treatment pathways that increase quality of life and often generate knowledge that benefits future research well beyond a single company.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

After becoming concerned about the potential impact of this, Delia started campaigning for a safe place for cancer patients and those with weakened immune systems to wait before receiving treatment.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

The growth of Tremfya has helped cushion the company’s results after it lost patent protection for Stelara, a treatment for skin and gut conditions and one of its best-selling drugs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

On January 4, I’ll be running in the Disney World Marathon in support of the Diabetes Action Team—a nonprofit organization committed to the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Related Words

• analysis
• cure
• hospitalization
• medication
• medicine
• operation
• prescription
• regimen
• remedy
• surgery
• therapy