ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does alternative medicine mean? 

• ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (noun)
  The noun ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE has 1 sense:

1. the practice of medicine without the use of drugs; may involve herbal medicines or self-awareness or biofeedback or acupuncture

  Familiarity information: ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The practice of medicine without the use of drugs; may involve herbal medicines or self-awareness or biofeedback or acupuncture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("alternative medicine" is a kind of...):

medicine; practice of medicine (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate training in a medical school and that is devoted to preventing or alleviating or curing diseases and injuries)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alternative medicine"):

herbal medicine (the use of medicinal herbs to prevent or treat disease or promote health)

 Context examples 

It is a type of complementary and alternative medicine.

(Acupressure, NCI Dictionary)

Standard treatments go through a long and careful research process to prove they are safe and effective, but less is known about most types of complementary and alternative medicine.

(Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NCI Dictionary)

It is a type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

(Chiropractic therapy, NCI Dictionary)

Complementary medicine as being used together with conventional medicine, whereas alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine.

(Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NCI Thesaurus)

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the term for medical products and practices that are not part of standard care.

(Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NIH: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine)

A form of complementary and alternative medicine based on the belief that a vital energy flows through the human body.

(Energy healing, NCI Dictionary)

One choice you might be thinking about is complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

(Cancer Alternative Therapies, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

Also called complementary and alternative medicine.

(CAM, NCI Dictionary)

A mind-body practice is a type of complementary and alternative medicine.

(Mind-body practice, NCI Dictionary)

Acupuncture is a type of complementary and alternative medicine.

(Acupuncturist, NCI Dictionary)