herbal medicine

noun

Definition of herbal medicine

1 : the art or practice of using herbs and herbal preparations to maintain health and to prevent, alleviate, or cure disease

2 : a plant or plant part or an extract or mixture of these used in herbal medicine

See herbal medicine defined for kids

Recent Examples of herbal medicine from the Web

Researchers have used the samples to test the whitening effect of white peony—a fixture in Chinese herbal medicine—to develop skin-lightening products.

— Bloomberg.com, "L’Oréal Is Growing Chinese Skin to Test Products," 16 Jan. 2018
Its parts—from seeds to roots—can be consumed and are frequently used in local cuisine and for herbal medicine.

— erin flaherty, Marie Claire, "Beauty Travels: Exploring Cambodia and the Power of Sacred Flowers," 15 Jan. 2018
Meanwhile, Morton was studying herbal medicine and Ayurveda.

— shawn wen, Bon Appetit, "You Need to Know About This Small-Batch Tea," 28 Feb. 2017
Animalkind A Bloomfield Hills veterinary hospital is using traditional Chinese herbal medicine to treat dogs with a common type of spleen cancer, as part of a clinical study that began in August to prolong the canines’ lives.

— hasan dudar, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan pet hospital to test Chinese herbal medicine on dogs with cancer," 22 Sep. 2017
During our eyesalve study, chemist Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of a new therapy for malaria after searching over 2,000 recipes from ancient Chinese literature on herbal medicine.

— erin connelly, Smithsonian, "Medieval Medical Books Could Hold the Recipe for New Antibiotics," 19 Apr. 2017
Lam was born in Canton, China, and raised there by his mother and grandfather while his father supported them with a Sacramento laundry business, then an herbal medicine shop on I Street.

— mark glover, sacbee, "Openings and closings: Last call for King’s Restaurant in West Sacramento | The Sacramento Bee," 29 Oct. 2017
The study will cover the costs of all herbal medicine and supplement prescriptions for up to 12 months of therapy—which is a $1,568 to $2,400 value per patient—according to the clinical trial criteria form.

— hasan dudar, Detroit Free Press, "Michigan pet hospital to test Chinese herbal medicine on dogs with cancer," 22 Sep. 2017
This is the market that sets prices for Chinese herbal medicine throughout the country.

— The Economist, "Health care with Chinese characteristicsWhy China’s traditional medicine boom is dangerous," 31 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'herbal medicine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.