INDEX:
1. to become healthy again after an illness or accident
2. to spend time resting in order to recover
3. to be better again after an illness or injury
4. to become strong or happy again after a period of problems or unhappiness
5. to be strong or happy again after a period of problems or unhappiness
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ ILL/SICK
↑ CURE
↑ ILLNESS/DISEASE
↑ ACCIDENT
↑ HURT/INJURE
↑ SAD
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1. to become healthy again after an illness or accident
▷ recover /rɪˈkʌvəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
to become healthy again after you have had an illness, injury, or operation :
▪ My mother’s been very ill, and is still in hospital recovering.
▪ Sammy needed to recover a little before they could move him to a hospital nearer his home.
recover from
▪ He never really recovered from the operation.
fully recover
completely recover
▪ It was several months before John had fully recovered from his heart attack.
recovery [uncountable noun]
the process of recovering from an illness or injury :
▪ The doctors were surprised at Phillip’s quick recovery.
▷ get better /ˌget ˈbetəʳ/ [verb phrase] especially spoken
to become healthy again after you have had an illness, injury, or operation :
▪ I hope you get better soon.
▪ My back has been quite bad recently, but it’s getting better slowly.
▪ I didn’t remember anything about the accident, but little by little, as I got better, memories started coming back to me.
▷ make a complete/full/good/slow recovery /meɪk ə kəmˌpliːt, ˌfʊl, ˌgʊd, ˌsləʊ rɪˈkʌv ə ri/ [verb phrase]
to recover completely, fully, well, or slowly :
▪ The disease has been caught early, and the doctors say she should make a complete recovery.
▪ Thomas is making a good recovery, although he is still quite weak.
make a remarkable/amazing recovery
▪ Joe has made a remarkable recovery from the injuries he sustained in the accident.
▷ get over /ˌget ˈəʊvəʳ/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to recover from an illness, especially one that is not very serious :
▪ Mark hasn’t got over the flu yet. He still feels pretty weak.
▪ I’ve had a nasty cold, but I’m getting over it now.
▪ The doctor told Mum it was only a stomach upset, not food poisoning, and she would get over it in a day or two.
▷ get well /ˌget ˈwel/ [verb phrase]
to recover from an illness - use this especially when you are encouraging someone to recover :
▪ Get well soon -- we all miss you!
▪ I hope you get well quickly.
▷ feel better /ˌfiːl ˈbetəʳ/ [verb phrase]
to feel less ill than you did before :
▪ I hope you feel better soon.
▪ My father’s been quite ill, but he’s starting to feel a bit better now.
▷ improve /ɪmˈpruːv/ [intransitive verb]
if you or your health improves, you become less ill than you were before but not completely well. Improve is more formal than feel better :
▪ Susie’s improving gradually with this new treatment.
▪ My health finally began to improve when I changed to a less stressful job.
▪ She was told to go back to the doctor in two weeks if she hadn’t improved.
improvement [uncountable noun]
▪ I’m afraid there have been no signs of improvement yet; she is still extremely ill.
a big/huge/vast improvement
▪ There’s been a big improvement in his health over the last three months.
▷ be on the mend /biː ɒn ðə ˈmend/ [verb phrase]
if someone is on the mend, they are definitely showing signs of getting better after an illness or injury :
▪ I’m glad to see you’re on the mend again.
▪ Kathy’s been quite ill with flu, but I think she’s on the mend now.
▷ shake off /ˌʃeɪk ˈɒf/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to manage to recover from an illness such as a cold or an infection, which you have had for a fairly long time :
shake something off
▪ Towards the end of the year he caught flu, and he couldn’t shake it off.
shake off something
▪ It seems to be taking me a long time to shake off this cold.
2. to spend time resting in order to recover
▷ recuperate /rɪˈkjuːpəreɪt, -ˈkuː-/ [intransitive verb]
to spend time resting in order to recover from an illness or operation :
▪ It was a very difficult birth, and Mary is now recuperating at home with the baby.
recuperate after
▪ She’s going to need time to recuperate after the operation.
recuperation /rɪˌkjuːpəˈreɪʃ ə n, -ˌkuː-/ [uncountable noun]
the process of resting in order to recover from an illness, operation etc :
▪ We decided to take Dad on holiday to help his recuperation.
▪ I think you’re going to need quite a long period of recuperation.
▷ convalesce /ˌkɒnvəˈlesǁˌkɑːn-/ [intransitive verb]
to spend a long period of time recovering from a serious illness, especially by resting :
▪ They travelled to Bermuda for six weeks so that David could convalesce in the sun.
convalesce after
▪ Jason is now convalescing at home after a major operation.
convalescence [uncountable noun]
a process of resting for a long time in order to recover from a serious illness :
▪ They suggested that I spend a period of convalescence in the mountains.
▪ During the second week of her convalescence Wanda felt that she was beginning to recover.
3. to be better again after an illness or injury
▷ be better /biː ˈbetəʳ/ [verb phrase]
if someone is better after an illness or injury, they have recovered, or they are in the process of recovering :
▪ How are you? Are you better?
▪ I’ll just rest today, and, hopefully, I’ll be better tomorrow.
▪ I hope Robert’s better by Saturday, because we need him for the team.
▷ be well /biː ˈwel/ [verb phrase]
if someone is well, they are healthy again, and they no longer have an illness or injury :
▪ As soon as you’re well we’ll go to Florida and have a few weeks in the sun.
▪ They couldn’t really make any firm plans until Luis was well again.
▷ be fully recovered /biː ˌfʊli rɪˈkʌvəʳd/ [verb phrase]
to be completely well again after an illness or injury :
▪ We were relieved to find that Barnes was fully recovered and able to take part in the race.
be fully recovered from
▪ Keep the patient still and quiet until he is fully recovered from the attack.
▷ be cured /biː ˈkjʊəʳd/ [verb phrase]
if someone is cured, they are completely better because their illness has been treated successfully :
▪ She’s still rather weak, but her bronchitis seems to be cured.
be cured of
▪ It is only after two or three years that the doctors can say you are definitely cured of cancer.
be completely cured
▪ He was always confident that he would be completely cured.
▷ be over /biː ˈəʊvəʳ/ [verb phrase]
to be well again after an illness :
▪ You’ve had a bad attack of malaria, but I think you’re over it now.
be over the worst
▪ Her temperature is going down again - she seems to be over the worst.
▷ be back on your feet (again) /biː ˌbæk ɒn jɔːʳ ˈfiːt (əgen)/ [verb phrase] informal
to be well again and able to live life as usual after being ill :
▪ After a day or two in bed I’ll be back on my feet again.
▪ Wait till you’re back on your feet before you start worrying about your exams.
▷ be up and about (again) /biː ˌʌp ənd əˈbaʊt (əgen)/ [verb phrase]
to be out of bed and well enough to walk around again, after an illness or injury has forced you to stay in bed :
▪ She’s up and about now, and should be back at work in a day or two.
▪ It’s good to see you up and about again.
▷ be fit /biː ˈfɪt/ [verb phrase] especially British
to be well again after having been ill, so that you are now able to move around as usual, exercise etc :
▪ Don’t come back to work until you’re completely fit.
▪ He should be back at training next week if he’s fit.
be fit as a fiddle
be extremely fit
▪ Don’t worry - I’ll be as fit as a fiddle again by next week.
4. to become strong or happy again after a period of problems or unhappiness
▷ recover /rɪˈkʌvəʳ/ [intransitive verb]
to become strong or happy again after experiencing problems or unhappiness :
▪ Losing my job was a terrible blow, and it took me quite a while to recover.
recover from
▪ Mark never really recovered from the shock of his father’s death.
▪ It took a long time for the British economy to recover from the effects of the war.
recovery [uncountable noun]
▪ American aid played a major part in the country’s economic recovery.
▷ get over /ˌget ˈəʊvəʳ/ [transitive phrasal verb]
to recover from a particular problem or from a difficult or unhappy time :
▪ It took Joe quite a long time to get over the divorce.
▪ Don’t worry about Henry - he’ll soon get over it.
▪ Children seem to get over things very quickly.
▷ bounce back /ˌbaʊns ˈbæk/ [intransitive phrasal verb] informal
to recover quickly and easily after problems or an unhappy period of time :
bounce back after
▪ Liverpool’s footballers hope to bounce back after their defeat in Europe last week.
bounce back from
▪ We are confident the business will bounce back from the recession.
5. to be strong or happy again after a period of problems or unhappiness
▷ be over /biː ˈəʊvəʳ/ [verb phrase]
▪ Experts believe that Colombia is now over the worst of its troubles.
▪ Sharon seems to be over her reading difficulties now.
▪ It took Greg a long time to cope with his parents’ divorce, but I think he’s over it now.
▷ be/feel yourself again /biː, ˌfiːl jɔːʳˈself əgen/ [verb phrase]
to feel mentally and physically well again after a period when you experienced emotional problems and unhappiness :
▪ It’s good to see that Mandy’s herself again.
▪ It wasn’t until six months after my husband’s death that I started to feel myself again.
▷ be back to normal /biː ˌbæk tə ˈnɔːʳm ə l/ [verb phrase]
if a person is back to normal, they are just as they were before their problems or troubles started :
▪ I think Judith was quite badly affected by shock, but she seems to be back to normal now.