# heal

Pronunciation: say "HEEL" US /hil/, UK /hiːl/

## Verb

1. To make someone better from a disease or wound; to cure or revive.
   - Simple: To make a sick or hurt person or animal well again.
   - _The new treatment helped heal her infected wound within days._
   - _Antibiotics heal bacterial infections that would otherwise grow worse._
2. To become healthy or sound again, as a wound or injury does.
   - Simple: To get well again after being sick or hurt.
   - _Her sprained ankle healed completely after a few weeks of rest._
   - _Deep wounds heal more slowly than shallow scratches._
3. To repair a rift or settle a disagreement, making things whole again, or to absolve someone of guilt.
   - Simple: To fix a broken friendship or quarrel and make things good again.
   - _The treaty finally healed the divisions that had split the nation for decades._
   - _Time alone cannot heal a betrayal this deep._

## Noun

4. A spell or special ability, as in a role-playing game, that gives back lost hit points or cures a harmful status effect.
   - Simple: In games, a spell or skill that brings back health or removes a bad effect.
   - _The cleric's heal restored half the party's hit points in a single turn._
   - _Players save their strongest heals for the boss fights._
5. The restoration of health or hit points; an instance of healing within a game.
   - Simple: In games, the restoring of health or hit points to a character.
   - _Their strategy depended on constant heal from the back line._
   - _Burst damage can easily overwhelm steady heal._

## Noun

6. Health; the condition of being sound and well. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Good health, or being well and free from sickness.

## Verb

7. Rare alternative form of hele. *(rare)* — Alternative form of hele (“conceal”).
   - Simple: Rare form of hele. It means to hide or cover something up.

## Origin

From Middle English helen, from Old English hǣlan ("to heal, cure, save"), going back through Proto-Germanic *hailijaną ("to heal, make whole") to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "safe, unharmed." It comes from the same source as whole, with cognates including Dutch helen, German heilen, and Swedish hela.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/heal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).