cure
Meaning of cure: A claim about the future rather than the present, which is why it is used sparingly and other words are used instead.
Definition of cure
A cure is the complete and permanent elimination of a disease, so that it no longer affects the body and is not expected to return. As a verb, to cure means to restore health by removing the underlying illness rather than by controlling what it produces. The word carries a claim about permanence that most treatments cannot make.
Why is cure so rarely the word used?
Confirming a cure means proving an absence, and no test can show that nothing remains anywhere in the body. Every method has a threshold below which disease is invisible. That is why an assessment made after treatment is reported as a complete response or as remission, both of which describe what cannot be detected at a moment in time rather than what will happen afterward. Cure becomes reasonable to say only in hindsight, once enough time has passed without the disease returning, and how long that takes differs by condition.
How do the neighboring words differ?
| Word | What it claims |
|---|---|
| Cure | The disease is gone and is not expected to come back |
| Remission | Signs and symptoms have gone; the disease may still return |
| Complete response | Nothing detectable by the measures used at this assessment |
| Control | The disease is held in check by continuing treatment |
| Palliation | Symptoms are eased without acting on the disease itself |
The distinction is practical rather than pedantic. A disease held in check returns when treatment stops; a cured one does not. Something that can recur after years of quiet was not cured, only quiet.
Which conditions are curable?
Many infections are, because the organism causing them can be eliminated. Some cancers are, particularly when removed completely before spreading. Surgical correction of a structural problem can be curative. Against this sit conditions defined by an ongoing process rather than an intruder: diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and most autoimmune diseases are managed rather than cured, and treatment works for as long as it continues. Genetic conditions have generally fallen in the second group, though approaches that correct the underlying gene have begun to change what is possible for a few of them. Calling something incurable describes the treatments available, not the value of treating it, since a condition that cannot be cured can still be controlled for a very long time.
Used in a sentence
The treatment aimed for a cure rather than simply controlling the disease's symptoms.
Good to know
Cure asserts permanence, which is why remission or complete response is preferred for conditions that can return, since those terms describe what is detectable at a point in time rather than what will follow.