To heal means to become healthy again after being sick or injured, or to help someone else get better. When you scrape your knee, your body heals itself by growing new skin over the wound. A doctor helps heal patients by treating their illnesses. A broken bone heals over several weeks as new bone tissue grows and knits back together.

Healing takes time. You can't rush it. Sometimes people say time heals emotional pain too, meaning that the sharp hurt of disappointment or loss gradually softens as weeks and months pass.

The word can also describe fixing problems between people. When friends argue and then talk things through, they might heal their friendship. Communities work to heal divisions when different groups learn to understand and respect each other again.

A healer is someone who helps others get better, whether that's a doctor, nurse, or someone in another culture with medical knowledge. The noun healing describes the whole process of getting better: “The healing took longer than expected.” When something is described as healing, it means it helps someone recover, like how a good night's sleep can be healing after a hard day.