Restorative
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Something with restoring properties.
"Marianne’s joy was almost a degree beyond happiness, so great was the perturbation of her spirits and her impatience to be gone. Her unwillingness to quit her mother was her only restorative to calmness; and at the moment of parting her grief on that score was excessive."
- 2 a device for treating injury or disease wordnet
- 3 An alcoholic drink, especially with tonic. euphemistic
"“Well, let's hope you're right, darling. In the meantime,” said Kipper, “if I don't get that whisky-and-soda soon, I shall disintegrate. Would you mind if I went in search of it, Mrs Travers?” “It's the very thing I was about to suggest myself. Dash along and drink your fill, my unhappy young stag at eve.” “I'm feeling rather like a restorative, too,” said Bobbie. “Me also,” I said, swept along on the tide of the popular movement. “Though I would advise,” I said, when we were outside, “making it port. More authority.”"
- 4 a medicine that strengthens and invigorates wordnet
- 1 Serving to restore.
"After a long day working in the fields Clarence took comfort in a restorative pint of beer."
- 1 promoting recuperation wordnet
- 2 tending to impart new life and vigor to wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"They found that not only do humans need less sleep than chimps, macaques and lemurs, we spend a greater percentage of our slumber in the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep."
Etymology
From Middle English restoratif, restoratyve, from Old French restoratif, restauratif and Medieval Latin restaurātīvus, equivalent to restore + -ative.
Related phrases
More for "restorative"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.