remédier

Remédier is a French verb meaning to remedy, to correct a defect, or to take action to prevent or alleviate a problem. The sense covers medical, technical, social, and everyday contexts, from curing an ailment to addressing a fault in a system or argument.

In usage, remédier commonly appears with the preposition à when referring to the problem or harm being addressed (remédier à un mal, remédier à un manque). It can also be used transitively with a direct object to indicate the act of eliminating a defect (remédier un défaut, remédier une situation). The related noun remède denotes the remedy or solution, while the adjective remédiable describes something that can be remedied. The term remédiation is used particularly in educational, technical, or environmental contexts to refer to processes of remediation or corrective action.

Etymology traces remédier to Old French remédier, from Latin remedium, meaning remedy or cure. The word is connected to other Romance-language terms for remedy and to the general notion of redress or correction.

Past participle forms include remédié, used in compound tenses such as le problème a été remédié. The verb appears in various collocations across domains, from health care to engineering and public administration, always conveying the idea of providing a solution or corrective measure.