heal
- 01 B1 Intermediate
v.to get better after being hurt or sick.
v.to become sound or healthy again; used intransitively to describe the natural recovery process of a wound or body part.
Simple“The doctor said the broken bone would take about six weeks to heal.”
In context“Although the superficial cuts closed quickly, the deep bruising took several months to heal completely.”
UsageOften used without an object when referring to the body's natural process.
Antonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to make someone healthy again or to fix a wound.
v.to cause a wound, injury, or person to become healthy again. Transitive use implies an external agent or treatment.
Simple“The new cream helped to heal the skin infection very quickly.”
In context“Ancient civilisations used various herbs and rituals in an attempt to heal the sick and wounded after battle.”
UsageTakes a direct object, such as the patient or the specific injury.
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to make a bad situation or a broken relationship better.
v.to reconcile a breach or difference; to restore emotional or social wholeness.
Simple“It took many years for the two families to heal their relationship after the argument.”
In context“The peace talks were designed to heal the divisions that had torn the country apart for decades.”
UsageCommonly used with abstract nouns like 'rift', 'division', or 'wound'.
- 04 C1 Advanced
n.in games, a spell or power that gives a character more health.
n.a specific action, spell, or ability in a game context that restores a character's health points.
Simple“The team survived the boss fight because the priest provided a quick heal.”
In context“The player's strategy relied on a constant cycle of shields and heals to mitigate the boss's high damage output.”
Teacher's tipThis is specific to gaming culture; in standard English, 'healing' is the preferred noun form.
Synonyms
“She has sores inside her mouth that have not healed.”
“For example, after an injury has healed, the brain may continue predicting that a movement or activity is unsafe .”
From Middle English helen, from Old English hǣlan (“to heal, cure, save, greet, salute”), from Proto-West Germanic hailijan, from Proto-Germanic hailijaną (“to heal, make whole, save”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). Derived from the adjective at hand in whole. Cognates Cognate with Scots hale, hail (“to heal”), Saterland Frisian heila, heilen (“to heal”), West Frisian hielje, Dutch helen (“to heal”), German heilen (“to heal”), Danish hele, Swedish hela (“to heal”), and further Russian цели́ть (celítʹ, “to heal”), Polish calić (“to save”), Czech celit (“to heal”), Serbo-Croatian céliti (“to heal”).
See hele.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.