NEWS Health News Word of the Week: Adjuvant By Team Verywell Health Updated on August 05, 2021 Fact checked by Angela Underwood Fact checked by Angela Underwood LinkedIn Angela Underwood's extensive local, state, and federal healthcare and environmental news coverage includes 911 first-responder compensation policy to the Ciba-Geigy water contamination case in Toms River, NJ. Her additional health-related coverage includes death and dying, skin care, and autism spectrum disorder. Learn about our editorial process Share Tweet Email Print Alex Dos Diaz / Verywell Each week, Verywell explains a term from health, medicine, science, or technology. Word of the Week: Adjuvant How to say it: Adjuvant (ah-JAH-vent) What it means: Something that helps prevent, treat, or cure a disease or condition. For example, an ingredient that makes a treatment work better or an intervention added to a treatment to enhance its effectiveness. Where it comes from: From Latin, adjuvāre, to aid or help. Michał Parzuchowski/Unsplash Where you might see or hear it: Your doctor may want you to start a new treatment (adjuvant therapy) to help the medication or treatment that you already use for your condition work better. When you might want to use it: If you have cancer and need to have surgery, you might need to have treatments after the procedure to make sure that the cancer is really gone. You could explain to your loved ones that the chemotherapy that you will have after your operation is an adjuvant treatment to the surgery that removed the tumor. How Adjuvant Analgesics Are Used to Treat Chronic Pain Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Merriam-Webster. Definition of Adjuvant. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Medical Expert Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit