healheal /hiːl/ ●●○ verb [intransitive, transitive] 
It took three months for my arm to heal properly.2to make someone who is ill become healthy again, especially by using natural powers or prayer: a preacher who claims that he can heal the sick3to become mentally or emotionally strong again after a bad experience, or to help someone to do this: The trauma of divorce can often be healed by successful remarriage.4if an argument or disagreement between people heals or you heal it, the people stop arguing or disagreeingheal the wounds/breach/division/rift Our main goal must be to heal the divisions in our society. The rift between the two younger men never healed.heal over phrasal verb if a wound or an area of broken skin heals over, new skin grows over it and it becomes healthy again
WORD ORIGINheal
Origin:
Old English hælanVERB TABLE
heal
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | heal |
| he, she, it | heals | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | healed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have healed |
| he, she, it | has healed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had healed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will heal |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have healed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am healing |
| he, she, it | is healing | |
| you, we, they | are healing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was healing |
| you, we, they | were healing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been healing |
| he, she, it | has been healing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been healing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be healing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been healing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- A sprain usually takes longer to heal than a broken bone.
- Madame Bernice claimed to be able to heal people simply by laying her hands on their bodies.
- They believe they have healed themselves using the "power of the mind."
- This cream is good for healing minor cuts and bruises.
- We've seen dozens of marriages failed and families healed here at the center.
- But those who have clearly not been healed do not appear discouraged.
- Early on the ninth night, he tells us, the crucial healing dance began.
- Given half a chance, his body was healing, repairing itself.
- Some survive, of course: time heals a few wounds, wounds a few heels.
THESAURUS
to make someone who has an illness completely well again or to stop a disease making someone ill – used especially about drugs or other treatments: · Many cancer victims can be cured if the disease is detected early enough.
to cure someone – used especially when someone cures people using special religious powers, rather than using medicine. Also used when saying that a cream or treatment makes a wound better: · He claimed that he could heal the sick.· This cream is good for healing minor cuts and bruises.
to make someone who is ill well again, especially when they have an illness that is not very serious: · The pills did make me feel better.
(also alleviate formal) to reduce someone’s pain or unpleasant feelings: · Aspirin will help to relieve the symptoms.· I can give you something to alleviate the pain.
Longman Language Activatorto cure someone to make someone who has an illness completely well again or to stop a disease making someone ill: · It is possible that in the near future we will be able to cure AIDS.· cure somebody: · Many cancer victims can be cured if the disease is detected early enough.cure somebody of something: · Eventually we found a doctor who was able to cure her of her depression.
to make someone who is ill well again, especially when they have an illness that is not very serious: · Take this -- it'll make you feel a lot better.· I've had all kinds of medicines from the chemist, but nothing seems to make me any better.make a headache/cold/pain etc better: · She refuses to take anything to make her headache better.
to cure someone of a physical or mental illness, especially using methods that do not involve the usual drugs or forms of medical treatment: · This cream is good for healing minor cuts and bruises.· Madame Bernice claimed to be able to heal people simply by laying her hands on their bodies.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Our main goal must be to heal the divisions in our society.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES She wanted to help heal the breach between them. He set out to heal the rifts in the party.
Our main goal must be to heal the divisions in our society. She wanted to help heal the breach between them.· The water was supposed to have healing powers.
· The old women know about the healing properties of local herbs.
He set out to heal the rifts in the party.· The mental scars will eventually heal.
· The wound is healing nicely.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· My break was not completely healed and would be in plaster for a further two weeks.· Harrick said he may hold Dollar out next week if doctors think it will allow his injured hand ligaments to heal completely.· The cut on her brow seemed to have healed completely.· But the spiritual wound never healed completely.· The ulceration healed completely within two weeks and the patient was discharged on day 16.· Although it will be a few weeks before her eye is completely healed, Muffin already was experiencing improved vision Thursday.· She did not want him to exercise his leg until the infected burn had healed completely.
· But it seems their wounds will never heal.· But the spiritual wound never healed completely.· Attitudes toward active participation in the war opened deep fissures in the movement which, at the extreme, were never healed.· We stop for the night in the middle of this scar tissue that will never heal.· He was sometimes difficult, often distrustful and the scars of a thousand press knives have never healed.· For her things would never heal, but for Marguerite time would lessen the pain and her memories would help.· Those psychic scars would never heal.· But finally, she would make of it an ulcer, a running sore that would never heal.
· His own wounds were healing quickly and the pain was almost gone.· Doctors hope Christina's face will heal quickly and that she will be able to avoid plastic surgery.· On the face and neck this usually takes 2-3 days as these areas heal quickly and early removal helps to reduce scarring.· The scratches on his cheek had healed quickly and he had died unblemished.
NOUN· Given half a chance, his body was healing, repairing itself.· Homoeopathy, on the other hand, stimulates the body to heal itself and its use can be truly curative.· In other words, if we could get our lives together, our bodies might heal themselves.
· Should he try to heal the breach between Andrew Neil and Lamont?· This is presumably because it is seldom possible to heal the breach that is usually created by fighting a legal battle.
· We have to continue to heal the racial divisions that still tear at our nation.· President Eisenhower set out to heal the divisions in the nation.· We are trying to heal the divisions, put the past behind us.
· A person with faith prays for healing in the belief that healing can take place.· People will always be sceptical about faith healing.
· They have gone some way to healing their internal rifts.· A few weeks later, the two old and broken men moved to heal their twenty-year rift.· Understand the lesson in this for you, and heal the rift between you.· Many in the legal profession hoped that the Committee would help heal the rift between the two branches of the legal profession.· Laurie Mains is at the centre of efforts to heal the rift between players and media.· Theo's visit was intended by both brothers to heal a rift which had developed between them.
· The scars of Bosnia will take a long time to heal.· It was a time of healing.· Some survive, of course: time heals a few wounds, wounds a few heels.· That was a beautiful time, a healing time-the fresh lumber, the new beginning.· But the wounds inflicted by the media will, it appears, take a long time to heal.· But time has healed many wounds.· It is the only emotion that takes time to heal.· Relationships once broken in this way may take a long time to heal.
· This indicates that the stimulation of cell proliferation may not be the only factor in ulcer healing by sucralfate.· Patients with incomplete ulcer healing after six weeks were reinvestigated by endoscopy at four week intervals.· Patients were excluded if they had taken ulcer healing agents, antibiotics, or cytotoxic drugs within one week of endoscopy.· They lack independence, may develop stiffness or even feel a failure because their ulcers do not heal.· All of the patients had an improved ability to walk, reduced pain and improved ulcer healing.
· He said the nerve may take several weeks to heal.· A slash from Siban's talons would have inflicted a wound which would have taken weeks to heal.
· His own wounds were healing quickly and the pain was almost gone.· The wound would immediately heal, the waste land become green, and the saving hero himself be installed as king.· Peggy Monroe was young and her wounds had healed over.· When they were injured, their wounds failed to heal.· Bush said, for the agony to end, for the wounds to be healed.· But it seems their wounds will never heal.· She could return to the place of warmth, where all wounds would be healed.
VERB· The police investigation had passed, the wounds had begun to heal, normality had returned.· As they begin to heal, will they regain their faith in humanity?· Madra's wounds began to heal, but her voice did not come back.· Bringing this to the light of day, she began the process of healing.· Only at this point can we begin healing ourselves and our broken world.
· By speaking out about envy between women, comedy can play a part in helping us to heal it in ourselves.· They have succeeded in business and are using their unique gifts to help and heal a wounded nation.· Music has the power to help and to heal.· He told them that new relationships could help them heal.· Our parents search for strict guidelines to help heal their confused feelings towards us.· It is your hope that because of your faith in St Francis he will help you and heal your donkey.· That is supposed to create scar tissue which helps the tendon to heal.· As a pastor, my job is to help and to heal the hurting person, even if you disagree with him.
· A magnanimous gesture from the founders of the Open Software Foundation is needed now to heal any lingering breeches in the industry.· Receding or inflamed gums will need good nutrition to heal.· We could discuss the fact that the Earth and his work environment need to be healed.· Both said that doctors need to stand for healing and the preservation of life.· They should take note of medical studies, which show some form of forgiveness is needed for scars to heal.· The healers themselves always needed healing, as their own naked bodies blistered in the sun.· Our inner wounds need to be healed.
· Should he try to heal the breach between Andrew Neil and Lamont?· We are trying to heal the divisions, put the past behind us.· Oh, and Mashburn and team officials argued for weeks about whether he should undergo knee surgery or try healing through rest.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► time is a great healer/heals all wounds
1 (also heal up) if a wound or a broken bone heals or is healed, the flesh, skin, or bone grows back together and becomes healthy again: - Finding a therapist to help you Many complementary therapies exist which are concerned with holistic healing.
- Herbalism: a holistic treatment involving the use of herbal remedies specifically chosen and blended for different conditions.
- In the centre, we record part of my daily routine for self-help holistic medicine which includes pectoral muscle exercises.
- It is usually called holistic medicine or holistic health.
- Paracelsus's influence on homoeopathy and holistic medicine is genuine, but the paracelsian legacy is much wider.
- She sent him books on holistic medicine and nutrition.
- The concepts of self-defense and self-repair are central contributions of holistic medicine.
- The second axiom of holistic medicine is that each person is unique and each program must be individualized.
It took three months for my arm to heal properly.2to make someone who is ill become healthy again, especially by using natural powers or prayer: a preacher who claims that he can heal the sick3to become mentally or emotionally strong again after a bad experience, or to help someone to do this: The trauma of divorce can often be healed by successful remarriage.4if an argument or disagreement between people heals or you heal it, the people stop arguing or disagreeingheal the wounds/breach/division/rift Our main goal must be to heal the divisions in our society. The rift between the two younger men never healed.heal over phrasal verb if a wound or an area of broken skin heals over, new skin grows over it and it becomes healthy again