curative
/ˈkjʊɹ.ə.tɪv/adjective, noun
curative is spelled C-U-R-A-T-I-V-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, curative means “Possessing the ability to cure, to heal or treat illness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in curative?
| Letters | 8: C-U-R-A-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 43,663rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is curative?
Curative appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce curative?
- /ˈkjʊɹ.ə.tɪv/
Curative has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-curative.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of curative
- more curative comparative
- most curative superlative
- curatives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does curative mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Possessing the ability to cure, to heal or treat illness.
The curative power of the antibiotics introduced in the 1950s was amazing at the time.
- 2
Remediative.
a curative jury instruction to disregard the sheriff's testimony
- 3
of a verb, conveying the meaning "the agent makes a patient do something"
noun
- 1
A substance that acts as a cure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Curative in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense possessing the ability to cure:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does curative come from?
Borrowed from Middle French curatif.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).