corrective

corrective — adjective

1. taken or designed to fix a problem, mistake, or weakness in a system, process, o

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

taken or designed to fix a problem, mistake, or weakness in a system, process, or situation

Example

The company took corrective measures after customers complained about the faulty products.

collocation: corrective measures / corrective action

Vivek received corrective feedback from his manager on how to improve his weekly reports.

Common collocations
  • corrective action
  • corrective measures
  • corrective steps
  • corrective plan
  • corrective feedback
  • corrective policy
  • corrective action plan
Synonyms
  • remedial

    more limited to learning, teaching, or repair contexts (remedial classes, remedial work on a building)

  • rectifying

    more formal, focuses on making something right that was unjust or incorrect

  • reformative

    emphasises fundamental change rather than a quick fix, often used in legal or social contexts

Antonyms
  • harmful

    causes damage rather than fixing it

  • damaging

    makes a situation worse rather than better

Grammar Patterns

corrective + noun

Usage Note

Used only before a noun. Common in formal, business, educational, and administrative writing. Often appears in set phrases such as corrective action, corrective measures, and corrective steps.

Common Mistakes

The manager took corrective
The manager took corrective action.
Corrective is an adjective and must be followed by a noun.
We need correctives steps
We need corrective steps.
Do not add an -s to the adjective form.

2. relating to medical treatment or a device that fixes a physical problem or makes

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

relating to medical treatment or a device that fixes a physical problem or makes a part of the body work properly

Example

After years of knee pain, Quan finally decided to have corrective surgery.

medical domain: corrective surgery

Naoko's eye doctor recommended corrective lenses after her vision became noticeably worse.

collocation: corrective lenses

Common collocations
  • corrective surgery
  • corrective lenses
  • corrective brace
  • corrective exercises
  • corrective procedure
  • corrective device
Synonyms
  • therapeutic

    broader — relates to healing or treatment in general, not only structural correction

  • curative

    focuses on curing a disease rather than fixing a physical structure

Antonyms
  • harmful

    causes injury rather than fixing it

  • damaging

    makes a medical condition worse

Grammar Patterns

corrective + noun (medical term)

Usage Note

Used only before a noun. Primarily appears in medical contexts. Common with nouns for procedures (surgery, procedure, operation), devices (lenses, brace, device), and therapies (exercises, therapy).

Common Mistakes

The doctor gave her a corrective
The doctor gave her corrective lenses.
Corrective needs a noun after it.
She had a correction surgery
She had corrective surgery.
Do not use the noun correction when the adjective corrective is needed.

corrective — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Corrective, remedial, and rectifying all describe actions taken to fix something that has gone wrong, but they differ in scope and context. Corrective is the broadest term, used in business, education, policy, and administration (corrective measures, corrective feedback). Remedial is more specific to learning and repair contexts — remedial classes help students catch up, and remedial work fixes structural damage to a building. Rectifying is the most formal and carries a sense of restoring justice or correctness (rectifying an error in a legal document). For everyday workplace issues, corrective is the safest choice. Use remedial when the focus is on helping someone reach a required level, and rectifying when a mistake or injustice needs to be formally undone.

corrective ↗remedialrectifying

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • take corrective action
  • implement corrective measures
  • serve as a corrective to
  • act as a corrective to

Prepositions

  • to (corrective to something — noun sense)

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Corrective comes from the Latin word correctivus, which was formed from corrigere meaning 'to make straight, put right'. Corrigere itself is a combination of com- (an intensifier) and regere ('to guide, lead straight'). The word entered English in the early 1500s through French correctif, and was first used as an adjective describing something that corrects faults or errors.