salutary

American  

[sal-yuh-ter-ee] / ˈsæl yəˌtɛr i /

adjective

1. favorable to or promoting health; healthful.

   Synonyms:

   salubrious

2. promoting or conducive to some beneficial purpose; wholesome.

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salutary British  

/ -trɪ, ˈsæljʊtərɪ /

adjective

1. promoting or intended to promote an improvement or beneficial effect

   a salutary warning

2. promoting or intended to promote health

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Related Words

See healthy.

Other Word Forms

• nonsalutarily adverb
• nonsalutarilyness noun
• nonsalutariness noun
• nonsalutary adjective
• salutarily adverb
• salutariness noun
• unsalutary adjective

Etymology

Origin of salutary

First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin salūt(āris) ( salūt- (stem of salūs ) “health” + -āris -ar ¹ ) + -ary

Example Sentences

The overall message to our adversaries is salutary.

From The Wall Street Journal

Gibbon, no democrat, spent much of his time reading voraciously and carried some English biases and feuds into his writing, but he illuminated Augustus’ strategies in ways that America’s framers found sobering, cautionary and salutary.

From Salon

Finally, the Espionage Act is a strict liability law, meaning that a defendant’s intentions — whether salutary, malevolent, purely selfish or some combination thereof — are entirely irrelevant.

From Salon

“I do think that, ultimately, it’s a salutary thing,” she says of the entertainment industry’s newfound race consciousness.

From Los Angeles Times

We are better prepared now, in part through a salutary reform of the Electoral Count Act.

From Salon

Related Words

• healthful