Meaning of treat in English

treat

verb

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/triːt/ us

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/triːt/

treat verb (DEAL WITH)

B2 [ T usually + adv/prep ]

to behave towards someone or deal with something in a particular way:

My parents treated us all the same when we were kids.

He treated his wife very badly.

It's wrong to treat animals as if they had no feelings.

I treat remarks like that with the contempt that they deserve.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to be about something

be aboutWhat is the story about?
have (got) to do withWhat's that got to do with it?
relate toThat relates to what I was saying earlier about the need for reform.
concernThe film concerns the complicated nature of marriage.
coverWe will cover the passive voice later in the course.
deal withWe will deal with the use of antidepressants in chapter three.

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More examples

Many companies still treat their management staff better than their workers.
You really should treat your parents with more respect.
These men's magazines just treat women as playthings.
We try to treat our students as individuals.
All information will be treated as strictly confidential.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Behaving, interacting and behaviour

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treat verb (GIVE MEDICAL CARE)

B2 [ T ]

to use drugs, exercises, etc. to cure a person of a disease or heal an injury:

He is being treated for a rare skin disease.

Western medicine tends to treat the symptoms and not the cause.

More examples

The farmer called the vet out to treat a sick cow.
Laboratory tests suggest that the new drug may be used to treat cancer.
Two firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation.
At that time I worked in a small hospital where I was treating shell-shocked soldiers.
Antihistamine is often used to treat hay fever and insect bites.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Medical treatment: treating & caring for people

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treat verb (PAY FOR)

B2 [ T ]

to buy or pay for something for another person:

Put your money away - I'm going to treat you (to this).

I'm going to treat myself to (= buy for myself) a new pair of sandals.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to buy something

buyI need to buy some new shoes.
getI need to go to the supermarket and get some bread.
purchaseShe purchased a new computer.
pick something upCan you just pop in the shop and pick up some eggs?

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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Buying & selling - general words

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Paying money

treat verb (PUT ON)

[ T ]

to put a special substance on material such as wood, cloth, metal, etc. or put it through a special process, in order to protect it from damage or decay:

The material has been treated with resin to make it waterproof.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Covering and adding layers

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Industrial processing

Idioms

treat sb like dirt

treat sb like royalty

treat

noun

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/triːt/

treat noun (SPECIAL EXPERIENCE)

C2 [ C ]

a special and enjoyable occasion or experience:

We're going to Italy for the weekend - it's my birthday treat.

As a special treat, I'll take you to my favourite restaurant.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Pleasure and happiness

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Celebrations, parties & special occasions

treat noun (TO EAT)

a type of food that is eaten in addition to your usual meals, usually something sweet:

There is a lot of competition with the sugar-filled and artificially flavoured treats on the store shelves.

Try to encourage children not to eat too many of those snacks and treats that tend to pile on the pounds without providing much nutrition.

a small piece of food, often specially produced, that is given to pets in addition to their usual food, for example as a reward:

We offer a smart, healthy alternative to the highly processed, artificially flavoured treats currently on the market.

The owner said the dog was dangerous, but when I fed it dog treats it would take them gently out of my hand.

Our gourmet cat treats are made with the highest quality of protein and grains.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Food - general words

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Sweets

Animal food

treat noun (PAY FOR)

my, your, etc. treat [ S ]

an occasion when I, you, etc. buy or pay for something for another person:

No, you paid for dinner last time - this is my treat.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Paying money

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Buying & selling - general words

Idiom

a treat

(Definition of treat from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

treat | American Dictionary

treat

verb

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/trit/

treat verb (DEAL WITH)

[ T always + adv/prep ]

to behave toward someone or deal with something in a particular way:

He treated his children badly.

She always tried to treat her students as/like adults.

treat verb (GIVE MEDICAL CARE)

[ T ]

to do something to improve the condition of an ill or injured person, or to try to cure a disease:

The hospital treats hundreds of patients a day.

The new drug may allow us to treat diabetes more effectively.

treat verb (PUT IN NEW CONDITION)

[ T ]

to change the condition of a substance by adding something to it or putting it through a special process:

The sewage is treated with chemicals before being dumped.

treat verb (PAY FOR)

[ I/T ]

to buy or pay for something for someone:

[ T ] I’m going to treat myself to a new pair of sunglasses.

Idioms

treat someone like dirt

treat someone with kid gloves

treat

noun

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/trit/

treat noun (SPECIAL EXPERIENCE)

[ C ]

a special and enjoyable occasion or experience:

It was a real treat seeing my old friends last weekend.

treat noun (PAYMENT)

[ U ]

an occasion on which you pay for someone's food or entertainment:

You paid for the taxi, so lunch is my treat (= I will pay).

(Definition of treat from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

treat | Business English

treat

verb [ T ]

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/triːt/ us

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to behave towards or think of someone or something in a particular way:

treat sb/sth as sth We must treat employees as allies in achieving change.

treat sb/sth equally/fairly/unfairly It very hard to prove that the company had been treated unfairly.

treat sb/sth like sth The company treated their initial public offering more like a marketing opportunity than a capital-raising exercise.

to deal with something in a particular way:

Each Fund is treated as a single tax entity.

The employment department said the unemployment figures should be treated with caution.

PRODUCTION

to put a special substance on something or put it through a special process, in order to protect it, clean it, or make it safe:

treat sth with sth We treat the material with resin to make it waterproof.

(Definition of treat from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of treat

treat

It is especially worth noting that in the market, the price of organic food is at least twice that of food treated with chemicals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In so doing, he treats the parties' identities as having been established.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A second relevant concern here is whether we can treat the 901 respondents in our sample as a random subset of all survey participants.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The environments were considered as random variables while the genotypes were treated as fixed variables.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

All patients were treated just after the clinical diagnosis of plague (bubonic plague with cervical, inguinal or axillary buboes) and all patients recovered subsequently.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Non-neuroleptic approaches to treating negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Part of hospitals' revenues was then made dependent upon the number of patients treated and the patient mix.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

So how are we to understand the aspiration to reconcile themes, which have typically been treated as incompatible?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One-time expenditure on screening could be substantially offset by savings in treating cancer cases in the long-term.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The main limitations in treating metastatic disease include poor vector transduction efficiencies and difficulties in targeting remote tumour cells with systemic vector delivery.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This figure is known as the 'intent to treat' effect.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Simultaneously with the testing of pharmacokinetic properties, pharmacodynamic characteristics are also typically investigated in models of the disease the agent is intended to treat.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Fourth, it is unclear how mono-lesion cases should be treated.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Over 10 different surgical methods are available to treat obesity, and there are several variants of these methods.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In a randomized placebo controlled trial, clinician-rated goal attainment scaling significantly distinguished the treated from the placebo group.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.