Library / English Dictionary

CURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain

Synonyms:

curative; cure; remedy; therapeutic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide a cure for, make healthy again

Example:

The quack pretended to heal patients but never managed to

Synonyms:

bring around; cure; heal

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

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

Example:

cure hay

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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:

Be or become preserved

Example:

the apricots cure in the sun

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make (substances) hard and improve their usability

Example:

cure soap

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A type of smokeless tobacco made from cured tobacco leaves.

(Chewing tobacco, NCI Dictionary)

The old physicians took account of things which their followers do not accept, and the Professor is searching for witch and demon cures which may be useful to us later.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I had heard of jerking beef on the plains, and our seal-meat, cut in thin strips and hung in the smoke, cured excellently.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Often, however, there is no cure.

(Autonomic Nervous System Disorders, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

He put five sun-cured salmon into the oven to thaw out for the dogs, and from the water-hole filled his coffee-pot and cooking-pail.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

A medical device is any product used to diagnose, cure, or treat a condition, or to prevent disease.

(Medical Device Safety, Food and Drug Administration)

Around 30 million people across Europe suffer from chronic liver diseases, for which there is currently no cure, with liver transplants being the only treatment for liver failure.

(Regeneration mechanism discovered in mice could provide target for drugs to combat chronic liver disease, University of Cambridge)

Cancer that has spread to other places in the body and usually cannot be cured or controlled with treatment.

(Advanced cancer, NCI Dictionary)

The mission of the Association is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

(American Diabetes Association, NCI Thesaurus)

But for some people, it is the best hope for a cure or a longer life.

(Bone Marrow Transplantation, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)