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

In a statement Thursday, the company confirmed that it was exploring a hantavirus treatment, styling the efforts as “early-stage and ongoing” and as part of a broader push to address emerging infectious diseases.

From Barron's • May 8, 2026

That’s a necessary next step to bring any treatment to market.

From MarketWatch • May 8, 2026

In a clinical trial, the medication lubiprostone appeared to slow the decline of kidney function in patients with moderate CKD, raising hopes for an entirely new approach to kidney disease treatment.

From Science Daily • May 8, 2026

Normally, the pathways of treatment for cancer are radiation, surgery, or chemo.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

When he asked for more information about his prognosis, the doctor told him that unless dialysis treatment began immediately, he probably didn’t have more than three months to live.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Related Words

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