treatment
Pluraltreatments
- 1Medical care given to deal with an illness or injury.
Early treatment greatly improves the chances of recovery.
She received treatment for burns at the local hospital.
UsageSay treatment for an illness or injury; use the plural for separate sessions: radiation treatments. A planned series is a course of treatment.
Similartherapy, care, intervention
Note
Usually it answers a problem already present, though medicine also speaks of preventive treatment, given before an illness takes hold.
- 2The process or manner of dealing with or behaving toward someone or something.
The prisoners complained about their harsh treatment by the guards.
Critics praised the documentary's sensitive treatment of the subject.
UsageSay treatment of someone or something, often with a judging word: harsh treatment, fair treatment. The giver follows by or from.
- 3The application of a substance or process to preserve something or give it particular properties.
The metal received an anti-rust treatment before painting.
Heat treatment makes the steel much harder and more durable.
UsageOften in compounds naming the process or what is treated: heat treatment, water treatment, wood treatment.
Similarprocessing
- 4A session of beauty care or relaxation for the face, body, hair, or nails, offered at a salon or spa or carried out with a special product.
The resort offers massages, body wraps, and other spa treatments in a garden by the pool.
Before the wedding, the bridesmaids had manicures and a hot-oil hair treatment at the salon.
Note
Salons and spas use the word as a countable menu item: you book a treatment, choose from a list of spa treatments, or add a hair treatment to a cut. A noun in front often names the part or the product (a facial treatment, a hot-oil treatment). It shares its shape with the medical meaning, but no illness is involved: the aim is to look or feel better, not to get well.
Less common meanings
- 5A brief summary of a proposed film, written in the third person and present tense.
Like an architect's sketch shown to clients before the detailed blueprints are drawn.
Before the full script, the writer submitted a treatment outlining the story.
The studio rejected the treatment but liked the central character.
Note
A screen-industry term for the document that sits between an idea and a script. It lays out the story, tone and key scenes in prose before a full screenplay is drafted, and writers use it to pitch and develop a project. The usual conventions, third person and present tense, make it read like the film unfolding. Do not confuse it with the scholarly treatise: this one plans a film rather than studying a subject.
- 6A formal written description or examination of a subject; a treatise.
His two-volume treatment of the Civil War is still a standard work for historians.
Scholars regard the volume as the definitive treatment of medieval trade.
UsageMostly in scholarly writing, as a treatment of a subject, often the standard or definitive treatment.
Similarstudy, account, treatise, analysis, discussion
Note
Taxonomists speak of species treatments: in volume V (1992) of Rudolf M. Schuster's The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America, he bases most of his on plants he collected himself. Unlike the general "handling" sense, which describes how a subject is approached, this sense names the finished document itself.
- 7Harsh handling or punishment given to someone as retribution.
Anyone who crossed the boss received the treatment.
When the new kid insulted the older boys, they gave him the treatment behind the gym after school.
UsageUsually give someone the treatment or get the treatment, with the; without the set phrase it sounds like ordinary handling.
Note
Menace dressed up as politeness: the word itself says nothing harsh, and that is the point.
- 8Entertainment or enjoyment provided to guests as a treat.
Accept such treatment as a swain affords.
1725, Homer, The Odyssey of HomerNote
Hospitality is the meaning here, now gone from the language: the treat a host lays on for a guest. Broome, Fenton and Pope's Homer translation of 1725–1726 still uses it: "Accept such treatment as a swain affords." A modern reader will hear "how you are treated" in such lines, which is close but misses the generosity. The noun treat has taken over this job entirely.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Treatment historically meant entertainment or a treat, a sense marked obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- William Broome, Elijah Fenton and Alexander Pope collaborated on the Odyssey translation. apps.lib.umich.edu
- The translation was first published in 1725–1726. en.wikipedia.org
- The quoted wording occurs in Book XIV of the Odyssey translation, spoken by Eumaeus. gutenberg.org
Practice
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Origin
Formed from "treat" plus the suffix "-ment," comparable to French "traitement."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Treatment is formed from treat plus the suffix -ment. en.wiktionary.org
- Treatment is comparable to French traitement. en.wiktionary.org