cure

KYUUR/kjʊɹ/UKKYOOR/kjɵː/AUSKYOO-uh/kjʉːə/

Pluralcures

Verbcures, curing, cured

17 meanings of cure

Practice

1
medical treatmentnouncountable
A treatment of any kind, whether a drug, a device, or a method, that restores health.
Researchers announced a promising cure for the rare blood disorder.
For centuries, willow bark served as a folk cure for fever and pain.
UsageUsually a cure for an illness: a cure for cancer, the cure for the common cold.
Similarcurative
2
heal (illness)verbtransitive
To end a disease or condition, or to restore a person or animal to health.
The therapy cured his chronic infection after two rounds of treatment.
Few treatments can cure the disease once it reaches a late stage.
UsageYou cure an illness or a person, and cure someone of a disease.
Similarheal
Note
Shakespeare sets the verb against its opposite in Henry VI, Part 2, with a smile and frown "able with the change to kill and cure." The Economist (2013) mocks headlines claiming that coffee causes cancer when "yesterday, of course, it cured it."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Shakespeare juxtaposes kill and cure in Henry VI, Part 2; York speaks the quoted words in Act V, scene i. en.wikisource.org
The Economist used the quoted wording in 2013, satirizing contradictory headlines about coffee and cancer; Wiktionary identifies the article as “Snakes and ladders,” dated June 22, 2013. en.wiktionary.org
3
keep meatverbtransitive
To preserve food, usually by salting it.
Farmers cure pork bellies in salt for several weeks before smoking them.
The ham was cured slowly over many months in a cool cellar.
UsageOften as cured: cured ham, salt-cured fish.
Similarpreserve, salt
4
being healednouncountable
Recovery of health after illness or of soundness after injury; the act of healing or the condition of being healed.
The doctors documented a remarkable cure following the experimental therapy.
With the new drug, a complete cure is now possible for most patients.
Similarrecovery, healing
Note
Here the word names the healing itself, not what brings it about. Unlike the remedy sense, it can be treated as an event that is witnessed or performed. Shakespeare's Juliet cries "past hope! past cure!", and the King James Bible of 1611 has "I do cures to-day and to-morrow," in which cures are acts of healing someone carries out.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Juliet speaks the quoted words in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 1. shakespeare.mit.edu
The King James Bible was first published in 1611. bridwell.omeka.net
The King James Bible contains the quoted words, describing acts of healing, in Luke 13:32. en.wikisource.org
5
solutionnounfigurativelycountable
A means of solving or putting an end to a problem.
Many believe that better education is the cure for poverty.
Throwing money at the issue is rarely a lasting cure.
UsageUsually the cure for a problem, like the medical meaning: the cure for poverty.
Similarremedy, solution, answer, antidote
6
remove a flawverbtransitive
To rid someone or something of a defect or fault.
The coach worked to cure the young pitcher of his awkward throwing motion.
A few embarrassing mistakes cured her of overconfidence.
UsageUsually cure someone of a habit or fault: it cured her of overconfidence.
Similarrid, break
7
hardening processnouncountable or uncountable
The process by which a material such as resin, glue, or concrete sets, hardens, or forms permanent bonds through heat, chemicals, or time.
The manufacturer specifies a heat cure for the composite panels.
The concrete needs a full seven-day cure before trucks can drive on it.
Note
Engineers often mean something stricter than setting. In resins, adhesives and rubber, a cure forms permanent molecular links, so the change is lasting and is more than a simple firming up. Chemicals, heat, pressure, or long weathering can drive it. Specifications speak of a heat cure or a full cure, and an incomplete cure leaves the material weaker than intended.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
This describes thermosetting resins but is too broad for the whole sense. PVC plastisols can cure through physical fusion involving PVC and plasticizer. princetonkeynes.com
Concrete curing maintains conditions for continued cement hydration; it should not be defined universally as polymer-style molecular crosslinking. cement.org
Chemicals and heat can initiate curing. energy.gov
Pressure can help promote curing. epa.gov
Technical product literature uses 'heat cure'. dow.com
Product specifications use 'full cure'. westsystem.com
Incomplete curing can leave a material below its intended final strength. westsystem.com
8
set hardverbintransitive
To solidify, set, or form a gel, as glue, resin, or concrete hardens over time.
Epoxy resins cure into a hard, glassy finish.
The sealant must cure completely before the joint bears any weight.
Similarset, harden, solidify
9
verbtransitive
To treat a material such as rubber, tobacco, or leather by chemical or physical processing so it can be kept or used, or to undergo such treatment.
Manufacturers cure the rubber under heat and pressure to make it durable.
The epoxy was cured overnight before the parts were assembled.
10
preserving methodnouncountable
A process of preserving food, such as by smoking.
The traditional cure for these hams involves weeks of cold smoking.
A proper salt cure draws moisture out of the meat before storage.

Less common meanings

11
verbobsoleteintransitive
To become healed; to recover from illness or injury.
One desperate grief cures with another's languish.
c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”
Note
In this obsolete intransitive use, the verb means to become healed, with the sufferer or the sorrow as its subject. Romeo and Juliet has "One desperate grief cures with another's languish."
12
priest's dutynoununcountable
The spiritual charge of caring for souls; the office or responsibility of a parish priest or curate.
The bishop entrusted the cure of three rural parishes to a single priest.
Taking on the cure meant tending to every soul in the district.
UsageMostly in the set phrase the cure of souls, or the cure of a parish.
Similarcharge, care
Note
Church language kept the old sense of care in the phrase cure of souls, which English took from Old French. John Skelton writes of those who "have cure of soule." By Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), a Cure is also a paid post: "a small Cure of fifteen pounds a year." The word names both the duty and the living that came with it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
Cure preserves the older meaning of care in ecclesiastical language and was borrowed through Old French. en.wiktionary.org
John Skelton uses the quoted wording in Ware the Hauke; 'have' modernizes the printed 'haue'. otago.ac.nz
Oliver Goldsmith wrote The Vicar of Wakefield. en.wikisource.org
The novel's first publication year is 1766, as shown on its first-edition title page. en.wikisource.org
The quoted phrase occurs in Chapter III, where the narrator describes being offered a paid clerical post worth fifteen pounds annually. en.wikisource.org
The ecclesiastical word can denote both spiritual responsibility and the paid office associated with it. en.wikisource.org
13
nounobsolete
Careful attention, heed, or concern given to a matter.
vicarages of great cure, but small value
1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain
Note
This meaning stays closest to Latin cura, "care." Thomas Fuller's Church-history of Britain (1655) speaks of "vicarages of great cure, but small value": parishes that demanded much care but paid little. That phrase already leans toward the priest's charge of souls.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The noun derives ultimately from Latin cura, meaning care, matching this historical sense. en.wiktionary.org
Thomas Fuller wrote The Church-history of Britain, published in 1655. huntington.org
Fuller used the quoted phrase about vicarages. gutenberg.org
The phrase concerns substantial pastoral responsibilities attached to poorly remunerated livings. upload.wikimedia.org
14
verbobsolete
To pay heed; to care or give attention to something.
15
nounobsoleteUK
An odd or eccentric person; an amusing oddball.
The mud was thick — the crossing clean — / A well dressed man, genteel of mien — / Walked through the first (he might be poor), / The sweeper muttered, "He's a Cure."
1855, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew
Note
This is a separate slang word, clipped from curiosity. Punch in 1856 gives it to a crossing-sweeper. He watches a well-dressed man walk through the thick mud instead of the clean crossing and mutters, "He's a Cure": an oddity, someone who behaves curiously.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
A crossing-sweeper says 'He's a Cure' after a well-dressed man walks through thick mud instead of the clean crossing. gutenberg.org
Cure here means an odd or eccentric person. gutenberg.org
16
nounrare
Fish that has been preserved by salting or smoking.
17
noundated
The people or parish placed under the spiritual charge of a priest or curate.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of cure apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1, 4–5, 7, 10, 12–13

Latin cura ("care, medical attendance, cure") gave Old French cure ("care, healing, cure of souls"), and Middle English borrowed it as cure. It took the place of native Old English hǣlu, which lives on as heal.

Meanings 2–3, 6, 8–9, 11, 14

Latin cūrāre passed into Old French as curer and then into Middle English as curen. It partly pushed aside Old English ġehǣlan, the source of modern heal.

Meaning 15

A shortening of curiosity, in its sense of something odd or unusual.