treat

I. treat¹ S2 W1 /triːt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[Word Family: noun: ↑treat, ↑treatment, ↑mistreatment; verb: ↑treat, ↑mistreat; adjective: ↑untreated, ↑treatable]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: traitier, from Latin tractare; ⇨ ↑tractable]
1. BEHAVE TOWARDS SOMEBODY/SOMETHING [always + adverb/preposition] to behave towards someone or something in a particular way ⇨ treatment
treat somebody like/as something
She treats me like one of the family.
Penny doesn’t think her co-workers treat her as an equal.
He treated his automobiles almost as tenderly as he did his wife.
badly treated/well treated
The prisoners were well treated by their guards.
treat somebody with respect/contempt/courtesy etc
Despite her seniority, Margot was never treated with much respect.
treat somebody like dirt/a dog (=treat someone unkindly and without respect)
I don’t know why he stays with her – she treats him like dirt.
2. DEAL WITH SOMETHING [always + adverb/preposition] to deal with, regard, or consider something in a particular way ⇨ treatment
treat something as something
Please treat this information as completely confidential.
She treats everything I say as a joke.
treat something favourably/seriously/carefully etc
Any complaint about safety standards must be treated very seriously.
3. ILLNESS/INJURY to try to cure an illness or injury by using drugs, hospital care, operations etc ⇨ treatment:
It was difficult to treat patients because of a shortage of medicine.
treat somebody/something with something
Nowadays, malaria can be treated with drugs.
4. BUY SOMETHING FOR SOMEBODY to buy or do something special for someone that you know they will enjoy
treat somebody to something
We treated Mom to lunch at the Savoy.
I treated myself to a new dress.
5. PROTECT/CLEAN to put a special substance on something or use a chemical process in order to protect, clean, or preserve it ⇨ treatment:
sewage treated so that it can be used as fertilizer
⇨ ↑trick or treat
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adverbs
▪ well The majority of workers are well treated.
▪ badly Why did he treat me so badly?
▪ fairly/unfairly I just want to be treated fairly.
▪ equally All people should be treated equally, whatever their age.
▪ differently Should girls be treated differently from boys in school?
▪ harshly The guards treated the prisoners harshly.
▪ kindly The world had not treated him kindly.
■ phrases
▪ treat somebody with respect/contempt/suspicion etc When you treat the kids with respect, they act responsibly.
▪ treat somebody like dirt informal (=very badly and with no respect) He treated this wife like dirt.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ behave to do and say things that are good, bad, normal, strange etc: His teacher said he’d been behaving badly at school. | I’m not going to talk to her until she starts behaving reasonably. | Oh, be quiet! You’re behaving like a two-year-old.
▪ act to behave in a particular way, especially in a way that seems unusual, surprising, or annoying to other people: Tina’s been acting very strangely lately. | What makes grown people act like that?
▪ treat to behave towards someone or deal with someone in a particular way: She said that he’d treated her really badly throughout their two-year marriage. | I’m sick of my parents treating me like a child.
▪ conform to behave in the way that most other people in your group or society behave: Young people sometimes want to rebel and therefore they refuse to conform. | Society typically brings pressure on individuals and groups to conform to civilised norms.
▪ conduct yourself formal to behave in a particular way, especially in a situation where people will notice and judge the way you behave: Public figures have a duty to conduct themselves responsibly, even in their private lives. | By the end of the course, you should be able to conduct yourself with confidence in any meeting.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

treat

▪ I. treat [treat treats treated treating] verb, noun [triːt] [triːt]

verb

BEHAVE TOWARDS SB/STH
1. to behave in a particular way towards sb/sth
• ~ sb/sth (with sth) to treat people with respect/consideration/suspicion, etc.
• Treat your keyboard with care and it should last for years.
• ~ sb/sth like sth My parents still treat me like a child.

• ~ sb/sth as sth) He was treated as a hero on his release from prison.

CONSIDER

2. ~ sth as sth to consider sth in a particular way
• I decided to treat his remark as a joke.

• All cases involving children are treated as urgent.

3. ~ sth + adv./prep. to deal with or discuss sth in a particular way

• The question is treated in more detail in the next chapter.

ILLNESS/INJURY

4. ~ sb (for sth) (with sth) to give medical care or attention to a person, an illness, an injury, etc
• She was treated for sunstroke.
• The condition is usually treated with drugs and a strict diet.

• The hospital treated forty cases of malaria last year.

USE CHEMICAL

5. ~ sth (with sth) to use a chemical substance or process to clean, protect, preserve, etc. sth
• to treat crops with insecticide

• wood treated with preservative

PAY FOR STH ENJOYABLE

6. ~ sb/yourself (to sth) to pay for sth that sb/you will enjoy and that you do not usually have or do
• She treated him to lunch.
• Don't worry about the cost— I'll treat you.
• I'm going to treat myself to a new pair of shoes.
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
Middle English (in the senses ‘negotiate’ and ‘discuss a subject’): from Old French traitier, from Latin tractare ‘handle’, frequentative of trahere ‘draw, pull’. The current noun sense dates from the mid 17th cent.
Collocations:
Injuries
Being injured
have a fall/an injury
receive/suffer/sustain a serious injury/a hairline fracture/(especially BrE) whiplash/a gunshot wound
hurt/injure your ankle/back/leg
damage the brain/an ankle ligament/your liver/the optic nerve/the skin
pull/strain/tear a hamstring/ligament/muscle/tendon
sprain/twist your ankle/wrist
break a bone/your collarbone/your leg/three ribs
fracture/crack your skull
break/chip/knock out/lose a tooth
burst/perforate your eardrum
dislocate your finger/hip/jaw/shoulder
bruise/cut/graze your arm/knee/shoulder
burn/scald yourself/your tongue
bang/bump/hit/ (informal) bash your elbow/head/knee (on/against sth)
Treating injuries
treat sb for burns/a head injury/a stab wound
examine/clean/dress/bandage/treat a bullet wound
repair a damaged/torn ligament/tendon/cartilage
amputate/cut off an arm/a finger/a foot/a leg/a limb
put on/ (formal) apply/take off (especially NAmE) a Band-Aid™/(BrE) a plaster/a bandage
need/require/put in/ (especially BrE) have (out)/ (NAmE) get (out) stitches
put on/rub on/ (formal) apply cream/ointment/lotion
have/receive/undergo (BrE) physiotherapy/(NAmE) physical therapy
Example Bank:
• Chemically treated hair can become dry and brittle.
• Don't treat me like a child!
• He is guilty and should be treated accordingly.
• He treated the idea with suspicion.
• Parents still tend to treat boys differently from girls.
• She was treated for cuts and bruises.
• The drug is effective at treating depression.
• The timber has been treated with chemicals to preserve it.
• These allegations are being treated very seriously indeed.
• They deserve to be treated with patience and respect.
• They treat their animals quite badly.
• We can treat this condition quite successfully with antibiotics.
• You need to treat this wood for woodworm.
• the tendency to treat older people as helpless and dependent
• Remember that chemically treated hair is delicate.
• The crops are treated with insecticide.
• The wood panels will become brittle if not treated with preservative.
• Water is discharged from the sewage works after being treated.
• You should treat people with more respect.
Idiom: treat somebody like dirt
Derived Word: treatable

Derived: treat somebody to something

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

treat / triːt / verb [ T usually + adv/prep ] (DEAL WITH)

B2 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.

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

treat

[tri͟ːt]
♦♦
treats, treating, treated
1) VERB If you treat someone or something in a particular way, you behave towards them or deal with them in that way.
  [V n with n] Artie treated most women with indifference...
  [V n as/like n] Police say they're treating it as a case of attempted murder...
  [V n adv] She adored Paddy but he didn't treat her well...
  [V n adv] The issues should be treated separately.
2) VERB When a doctor or nurse treats a patient or an illness, he or she tries to make the patient well again.
  [V n with n] Doctors treated her with aspirin...
  [V n for n] The boy was treated for a minor head wound...
  [V n] An experienced nurse treats all minor injuries.
3) VERB If something is treated with a particular substance, the substance is put onto or into it in order to clean it, to protect it, or to give it special properties.
  [be V-ed with n] About 70% of the cocoa acreage is treated with insecticide...
  [V n] It was many years before the city began to treat its sewage.
4) VERB If you treat someone to something special which they will enjoy, you buy it or arrange it for them.
  [V n to n] She was always treating him to ice cream...
  [V pron-refl to n] Tomorrow I'll treat myself to a day's gardening...
  [V pron-refl] If you want to treat yourself, the Malta Hilton offers high international standards. [Also V n]
5) N-COUNT If you give someone a treat, you buy or arrange something special for them which they will enjoy.
  Lettie had never yet failed to return from town without some special treat for him.
6) N-SING: poss N If you say that something is your treat, you mean that you are paying for it as a treat for someone else. [SPOKEN]
7) PHRASE: PHR after v If you say, for example, that something looks or works a treat, you mean that it looks very good or works very well. [BRIT, INFORMAL]
to treat someone like dirt → see dirt
  The first part of the plan works a treat...
  The apricots would go down a treat.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

¹treat /ˈtriːt/ verb treats; treat·ed; treat·ing
1 always followed by an adverb or preposition [+ obj] : to deal with or think about (something) especially in a particular way
• The author treats this issue in the next chapter.
• You should treat [=consider, regard] this information as top secret.
• He treats [=regards] everything I say as a joke.
• This situation must be treated with great care.
2 always followed by an adverb or preposition [+ obj] : to think of and act toward (someone or something) in a specified way
• I try to treat everyone equally.
• She treats the horse cruelly.
• They treated me like a member of their family.
• I was treated like a queen/criminal.
• My parents still treat me like a child.
• Try to treat everyone as an equal.
• Young people should always treat their elders with respect.
• He treated me like dirt. [=he was very rude, disrespectful, or unkind to me]
3 a : to pay for someone's food, drink, or entertainment

[no obj]

• Let's go out to dinner. I'll treat.

[+ obj]

- usually + to
• They treated us to lunch.
b [+ obj] : to provide (someone) with something pleasant or amusing - + to
• At the end of the concert, the band treated their fans to a new song.
- often used as (be) treated
• The people on the tour were treated to a rare glimpse of the bird. [=the people on the tour had the rare and enjoyable experience of seeing the bird]
c [+ obj] : to buy or get something special and enjoyable for (yourself) - + to
• He treated himself to some ice cream.
• She treated herself to a massage.
4 [+ obj]
a : to give medical care to (a person or animal)
• Doctors immediately treated the patient.
• She was treated for dehydration.
b : to deal with (a disease, infection, etc.) in order to make someone feel better or become healthy again
• She is taking medication to treat the condition.
• The infection can be treated with antibiotics.
5 [+ obj] : to put a chemical or other substance on or in (something) in order to protect it, preserve it, clean it, etc. - often + with
• He treated the wood with a waterproof sealant.
- often used as (be) treated
• The crops were treated with a pesticide.
• Has the water been treated?