HEALTHFUL


Meaning of HEALTHFUL in English

-thfəl adjective

Etymology: Middle English helthful, from helthe health + -ful

1. : beneficial to health of body or mind : conducive to health : salutary

a healthful climate

2. : healthy

a weird translation of Dickens' relatively healthful exuberance into a morbid … mysticism — Writer

physical organization … which was at once healthful and exquisitely delicate — Nathaniel Hawthorne

Synonyms:

healthy , wholesome , salubrious , salutary , hygienic , sanitary : healthful and healthy are both used to mean conducive to or indicative of health or soundness, the former word being preferred in some quarters

a healthful climate

better nutrition, more healthful housing, sounder forms of recreation — Lewis Mumford

one of the healthiest climates in England — Arnold Bennett

extolled the healthy air of the hills as the best way to recover from fever — Hervey Allen

healthy and normal outlets for youthful energies — Allan Nevins & H.S.Commager

wholesome may more strongly suggest beneficial, upbuilding, or sustaining capacities, physically, intellectually, or spiritually

wholesome meats

the warm rays of the sun, too, were wholesome for him in body and soul — Nathaniel Hawthorne

one trade is healthier or cleanlier than another, that it is carried on in a more wholesome or pleasant locality — Alfred Marshall

wholesome, fast-reading adaptations for teenagers of the adult best sellers they want to read — New York Times Book Review

salubrious may suggest the pleasantly invigorating or bracing

these uplands are likewise often the most salubrious seat of living, with their fine scenery, their bracing ionized air, their range of recreation, from mountain-climbing and fishing to swimming and ice-skating — Lewis Mumford

salutary may describe something corrective, tonic, or otherwise beneficially effective although the thing in question may in itself be unpleasant

in the open air, which is the most salutary of all things for both body and mind — R.L.Stevenson

salutary was the tartness with which she protested, “You're the most conceited man that ever lived!” — Sinclair Lewis

idle ladies and gentlemen are treated with salutary contempt, whilst the worker's blouse is duly honored — G.B.Shaw

hygienic is likely to suggest conformity with various health principles and laws

anyone … who took the proper amount of balanced food, or consumed his excess heat units in regular exercise, and lived a reasonably hygienic life — V.G.Heiser

sanitary implies cleanly precaution against contamination, infection, or other unhealthful developments

the sanitary appearance of the hospital kitchen

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.