healthful implies a positive contribution to a healthy condition.
a healthful diet
wholesome applies to what benefits, builds up, or sustains physically, mentally, or spiritually.
wholesome foods
the movie is wholesome family entertainment
salubrious applies chiefly to the helpful effects of climate or air.
cool and salubrious weather
salutary describes something corrective or beneficially effective, even though it may in itself be unpleasant.
a salutary warning that resulted in increased production
Examples of salutary in a Sentence
The accident should be a salutary lesson to be more careful.
the low interest rates should have a salutary effect on business
Recent Examples on the WebSenseless brutality was recast as a salutary hardening of the soul.—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023 One of the salutary things about the American political system is that its structure is explicitly written down.—Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 10 May 2023 But Students for Fair Admissions has also cemented a constitutional colorblindness that is already having salutary effects in other areas.—The Editorial Board, WSJ, 1 Aug. 2023 Guerrero notes that City Hall itself has had a salutary effect in resetting standoffs between, for example, the Port of Los Angeles dockworkers’ union and the shipping industry’s trade group, the Pacific-Maritime Association.—Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 June 2023 The most salutary change was Kelsey, who turned from Rigoletto to Amonasro, and who gave his trademark smoky tone and aura of threat to a role that, earlier in the month, George Gagnidze had rendered merely tight and querulous.—Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2023 This new freedom of tone is salutary and reveals the dynamism of Arab societies.—Alissa Simon, Variety, 8 Feb. 2023 But the old view of bilirubin as molecular trash is still holding back research on how to take advantage of its salutary effects, Stec says.—Bymitch Leslie, science.org, 8 June 2023 President Kennedy's devotion to the Jeffersonian principle of separating religion and government to promote religious freedom has proven more salutary to the American regime than will be the desire to accommodate Coach Kennedy's prayer spectacle at public school football games.—Barbara Perry, CNN, 29 June 2022 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'salutary.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle French salutaire, from Latin salutaris, from salut-, salus health
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