Meaning & use
treatment
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountablemedical
Medical care given to a person or animal to cure or ease an illness or injury.
Grammar: Uncountable for care in general (receive treatment), countable for a type (a new treatment).
Patterns
- treatment for something
- treatment of someone
She is receiving treatment for a back injury.
Doctors are testing a new treatment for the disease.
Early treatment makes recovery much more likely.
noununcountable
The way someone behaves toward another person or a group.
Grammar: Often with an adjective: fair treatment, special treatment.
Patterns
- treatment of someone
- treatment by someone
The workers complained about their treatment by the management.
Guests got royal treatment on arrival.
Fair treatment of every customer is our rule.
nouncountable
The way a subject or theme is handled in writing, art or a film.
Grammar: Usually followed by of: the film's treatment of grief.
Patterns
- treatment of something
The novel's treatment of grief is gentle and honest.
Critics praised the documentary's balanced treatment of the issue.
Her treatment of the theme was original.
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
A process or substance applied to something to clean, protect or change it.
Grammar: Often a compound: water treatment, hair treatment.
Patterns
- treatment of something with something
The wood needs a waterproof treatment before winter.
The town upgraded its water treatment plant.
She booked a deep conditioning treatment at the salon.
Word forms
| plural | treatments |
|---|
Common combinations
- receive treatment
- He had to receive treatment in hospital.
- undergo treatment
- She will undergo treatment for six weeks.
- effective treatment
- Rest is an effective treatment for many colds.
- special treatment
- No one gets special treatment in this office.
- treatment plan
- The doctor explained the treatment plan to the family.
- harsh treatment
- The prisoners complained of harsh treatment.
Synonyms and how they differ
- therapy
- Therapy often refers to long-term treatment, such as physical therapy or counseling, and sounds more specialized.
- care
- Care is broader and includes looking after someone's comfort, not only curing them.
- handling
- Handling stresses how something is dealt with and is used for people and objects, not for illness.
- remedy
- Remedy suggests something that solves a problem, often a simple one, while treatment may only manage it.
Opposites
Word family
- treat verb
- to give medical care, or to behave toward someone in a certain way
- treatable adjective
- able to be treated medically
- untreated adjective
- not having received treatment
- mistreatment noun
- bad or cruel treatment of someone
- maltreatment noun
- cruel or harsh treatment
Commonly confused: treatment or cure?
treatment vs cure
A cure ends an illness completely, while a treatment only tries to help and may not fully remove the problem.
Practice
The novel's ___ of poverty made readers reconsider their views.
Choose one answer.
Treatment of a subject is the way it is handled in a work. A treatise is a formal written study and does not follow with of in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “treatment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.