therapeutic

Alternative forms

• therapeutick (obsolete)

Etymology

From New Latin therapeuticus (“curing, healing”), from Ancient Greek θεραπευτικός (therapeutikós, “attentive, helpful, obliging, curative”), from θεραπευτής (therapeutḗs, “one who waits on another, an attendant”), from θεραπεύω (therapeúō, “I wait on, attend, serve, cure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θɛɹəˈpjuːtɪk/, enPR: thĕr'ə-pyo͞oʹtĭk

Adjective

therapeutic (comparative more therapeutic, superlative most therapeutic)

1. Of, or relating to therapy.
2. Having a positive effect on the body or mind.
   • Sir Thomas Browne

     Therapeutic or curative physic.

   • Isaac Watts

     Medicine is justly distributed into prophylactic, or the art of preserving health, and therapeutic, or the art of restoring it.

Noun

therapeutic (plural therapeutics)

1. (medicine) A therapeutic agent

Further reading

• therapeutic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• therapeutic in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• therapeutic at OneLook Dictionary Search