heal Hear it!

heal Definition

heal (hēl)

transitive verb

  1. to make sound, well, or healthy again; restore to health heal the sick
    1. to cure or get rid of (a disease)
    2. to cause (a wound, sore, etc.) to become closed or scarred so as to restore a healthy condition
  3. to free from grief, troubles, evil, etc.
    1. to remedy or get rid of (grief, troubles, etc.)
    2. to make up (a breach, differences, etc.); reconcile

Etymology: ME helen < OE hælan (akin to Ger heilen) < base of hal, sound, healthy: see hale, whole

intransitive verb

  1. to become well or healthy again; be cured
  2. to become closed or scarred: said of a wound

heal Synonyms

heal

v.

  1. To make well or sound

    cure, remedy, restore, rehabilitate, renew, treat, attend, minister to, restore to health, renovate, fix, repair, mend, make whole, reconstruct, regenerate, bring around, relieve, alleviate, ease, meliorate, set, purify, rejuvenate, medicate, recall to life, reinvigorate, dress a wound, rebuild, revive, revitalize, revivify, purge, reanimate, work a cure, cause to heal up, resuscitate, salve, help to get well, make better, nurse, care for, take care of, physic, ameliorate, patch up, reconcile, conciliate, set right, snatch from the jaws of death*, doctor*, set up*, fix up*, put one on one's feet again*, breathe new life into*, give a new lease on life*; see also improve 1, nurse.

    Antonyms make ill, harm, sicken, infect.

  2. To recover

    get well, knit, mend, recuperate, set, close up, scab over, cicatrize, improve, pull through; see also improve 2, recover 3.

heal and cure both imply a restoring to health or soundness, with heal usually applied to the making or becoming whole of a wound, sore, etc. or, figuratively, the mending of a breach, and cure specifically suggesting the elimination of disease, distress, evil, etc.; remedy stresses the use of medication or a specific corrective treatment in relieving disease, injury, distress, etc.

heal Usage Examples

Object

  • wound: Side 2: Heal wounds from the past, & reach for the future.
  • rift: The season ends with Clark torn between healing a rift on New Krypton or staying with Lois on Earth.
  • thyself: My advice for the US press: physician, heal thyself.
  • ulcer: The time to heal the ulcers was then measured.
  • leper: Now Jesus would not have needed to actually make contact with the diseased skin to heal the leper.
  • scar: Re: Does vitamin E when placed on skin help heal scars?

Preposition: on

  • Sabbath: You are not, you see, allowed to heal on the Sabbath.

Preposition: through

  • prayer: Does God heal through prayer alone, through anointing people with oil, through faith healers etc.

Adjective complement

  • slow: Large ulcers healed significantly slower than small ulcers, irrespective of the treatment method.

Modifying Another Word

  • miraculously: His footfall revealed a spring whose waters miraculously healed the blind captain of his ship.
  • nicely: He spared my teeth, the bruises should heal nicely in a few days, and my nadgers hardly even ache now.
  • naturally: No operation possible due to the clot, so left leg put into plaster & allowed to heal naturally.
  • spontaneously: Most spinal fractures will heal spontaneously after traction and a suitable period of bed-rest.
  • completely: The wound itself will be completely healed in 3 weeks.
  • quickly: He never gets sick and any damage he takes heals quickly.

Followed by an intransitive particle

  • over: And now jump forward to last week and just when the scars in the land were healing over nicely, the diggers arrived again.

Used with why or when

  • when: And full healing later when you can walk with Him in the cool of the day.
  • which: It is helpful to know a little of the process of healing which we go through.

Preposition: of

  • wound: Gives pain relief for teething children and aids healing of wounds.

Preposition: by

  • intention: If bone not exposed I would leave it to heal by 2 nd intention.
heal Quotes

They bore within their breasts the grief That fame can never healö The deep, unutterable woe

—Aytoun,William Edmonstoune

And he said unto them,Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

—Bible (NewTestament)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Atimeto be born, and atimeto die; atimetoplant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; Atimetoweep, and atimeto laugh; atimetomourn, and a time to dance: A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

—Bible (Old Testament)