treatment

American  

[treet-muhnt] / ˈtrit mənt /

noun

• treatments
  plural

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• treatments
  plural

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

See Examples For:

treatment treatments

Oral treatment with lacosamide was effective in preclinical testing, but drugs taken by mouth circulate throughout the body, increasing the potential for unwanted effects elsewhere.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

The company is also running a Phase 3 trial for retatrutide, a highly anticipated weight-loss drug that’s in development, as a treatment for chronic low back pain.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

Pilots are now able to fly while taking a greater number of psychiatric drugs, for example, and the agency has reduced the time pilots have to wait to resume flying after seeking treatment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Nearly four in five have witnessed patients abandon treatment because of problems with the process.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

Strange treatment of the precious bones from her daughters’ first spirit friend.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Patients often end up being treated by more than one doctor and have to try out a mix of treatments, which can be as simple as taking ibuprofen or as complex as surgery.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

Its focus on higher-value treatments and day-care services should also support growth beyond bed additions, she says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

An estimated 7.37 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of August, relating to 6.24 million patients.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Despite their effectiveness, these treatments remain difficult for many patients to obtain.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

I don’t remember what other treatments they used, and I don’t know enough about the energy work to give an account.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Related Words

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