salutary
Americanadjective
-
favorable to or promoting health; healthful.
- Synonyms:
- salubrious
-
promoting or conducive to some beneficial purpose; wholesome.
adjective
-
promoting or intended to promote an improvement or beneficial effect
a salutary warning
-
promoting or intended to promote health
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
Explanation
Use salutary to describe something that's good for your health, like the salutary benefits of exercise, laughter, and getting enough sleep every night. When you look at the word salutary, you might expect it to have something to do with showing respect to military personnel, perhaps by saluting. In fact, salutary and salute do share a Latin root: salus, which means "good health." When you salute someone, or say "Salud!" before clinking glasses and taking a first sip, you're essentially giving your salutary wish — in other words, hoping a person enjoys good health.
Vocabulary lists containing salutary
George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)
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Unit 1, Whole-Class Learning
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Bartleby the Scrivener
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He said both appear unlikely, but “the greater risk is some derogatory change, rather than some salutary change.”
From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026
A salutary outcome no longer exists; that ship has already sailed.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
One salutary side effect may be to encourage hospitals to improve patient care at lower cost.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 14, 2026
It will have the most salutary effect in the area of medical diagnostics and devices.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
The histories of the Fertile Crescent and China also hold a salutary lesson for the modern world: circumstances change, and past primacy is no guarantee of future primacy.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
