CURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cure mean? 

• CURE (noun)
  The noun CURE has 1 sense:

1. a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain

  Familiarity information: CURE used as a noun is very rare.

• CURE (verb)
  The verb CURE has 4 senses:

1. provide a cure for, make healthy again

2. prepare by drying, salting, or chemical processing in order to preserve

3. make (substances) hard and improve their usability

4. be or become preserved

  Familiarity information: CURE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

curative; cure; remedy; therapeutic

Hypernyms ("cure" is a kind of...):

medicament; medication; medicinal drug; medicine ((medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease)

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

acoustic (a remedy for hearing loss or deafness)

antidote; counterpoison (a remedy that stops or controls the effects of a poison)

emetic; nauseant; vomit; vomitive (a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting)

lenitive (remedy that eases pain and discomfort)

application; lotion (liquid preparation having a soothing or antiseptic or medicinal action when applied to the skin)

magic bullet (a remedy (drug or therapy or preventive) that cures or prevents a disease)

balm; ointment; salve; unction; unguent (semisolid preparation (usually containing a medicine) applied externally as a remedy or for soothing an irritation)

alleviant; alleviator; palliative (remedy that alleviates pain without curing)

catholicon; cure-all; nostrum; panacea (hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists)

preventative; preventive; prophylactic (remedy that prevents or slows the course of an illness or disease)

Holonyms ("cure" is a part of...):

intervention; treatment (care provided to improve a situation (especially medical procedures or applications that are intended to relieve illness or injury))

Derivation:

cure (provide a cure for, make healthy again)

• CURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cure    ... he / she / it cures   
Past simple: cured   
Past participle: cured   
-ing form: curing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide a cure for, make healthy again

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

bring around; cure; heal

Context example:

The quack pretended to heal patients but never managed to

Hypernyms (to "cure" is one way to...):

aid; help (improve the condition of)

"Cure" entails doing...:

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

Domain category:

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)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cure"):

recuperate (restore to good health or strength)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

curable (able to be cured or healed)

curative (tending to cure or restore to health)

cure (a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prepare by drying, salting, or chemical processing in order to preserve

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

cure hay

Hypernyms (to "cure" is one way to...):

keep; preserve (prevent (food) from rotting)

Verb group:

cure (be or become preserved)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cure"):

dun (cure by salting)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

curing (the process of becoming hard or solid by cooling or drying or crystallization)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make (substances) hard and improve their usability

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

cure soap

Hypernyms (to "cure" is one way to...):

harden; indurate (become hard or harder)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

curable (capable of being hardened by some additive or other agent)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be or become preserved

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the apricots cure in the sun

Hypernyms (to "cure" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Verb group:

cure (prepare by drying, salting, or chemical processing in order to preserve)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

It seems indeed to be a work that requires some exactness, but the professor assured us, “that if it were dexterously performed, the cure would be infallible.”

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Chronic pain usually cannot be cured.

(Chronic Pain, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

A tube-shaped tobacco product that is made of tightly rolled, cured tobacco leaves in a tobacco leaf wrapper or a wrapper that contains tobacco.

(Cigar, NCI Dictionary)

A tube-shaped tobacco product that is made of finely cut, cured tobacco leaves wrapped in thin paper.

(Cigarette, NCI Dictionary)

At last he had discovered the cure of his ill.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There is no cure for CFS, so the goal of treatment is to improve symptoms.

(Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Risk groups may also be based on the chance of being cured or the chance that the cancer will come back.

(Childhood cancer risk group, NCI Dictionary)

“It’s all gone, and “what can’t be cured must be endured”,” said Catherine.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

If they haven't spread to other parts of the body, surgery can cure the cancer.

(Carcinoid Tumors, NIH)

The name of a code list that contains terms to define the type of trial, e.g. cure or prevention.

(CDISC SDTM Trial Indication Type Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)