treatment

a treatment worse than the disease

1. Literally, any drug, surgery, procedure, etc., used to cure or mitigate a disease or ailment that ultimately leads to worse symptoms than the original condition caused or might have caused. While the drug has proven to be effective in combating the disease, it has also been shown to ravage the body in other, more devastating ways. It seems at this point like a treatment worse than the disease.
2. By extension, a solution to a problem or crisis that leads to worse conditions overall than the original problem did or would have. The board of directors' plan to deal with the economic downturn is to reduce the entire company to a skeleton crew. I know drastic action needs to be taken, but we want to make sure this isn't a treatment worse than the disease! I know you want to stimulate the financial sector, but repealing federal regulations would be a treatment worse than the disease.
See also: disease, treatment, worse

band-aid treatment

A method of covering up a problem superficially or temporarily, rather than resolving it completely. A reference to the Band-Aid brand of adhesive bandages. Sometimes capitalized. Honestly, I think this is just a Band-Aid treatment—we need to work harder and find a real solution.
See also: treatment

get the royal treatment

To receive extravagant treatment or elaborate attention and care. At our spa, we make sure all our customers get the royal treatment. By signing up with us, your website will get the royal treatment from our team of professional web developers!
See also: get, royal, treatment

get the silent treatment

To be ignored or deliberately not spoken to by someone who is angry at one. Well, I must have done something wrong because I've been getting the silent treatment from him all week.
See also: get, silent, treatment

give (one) the silent treatment

To ignore or deliberately avoid talking to one due to being angry at them. Well, I must have done something wrong because he's been giving me the silent treatment all week.
See also: give, silent, treatment

give (someone) the royal treatment

To treat someone or something extravagantly; to give someone or something elaborate attention and care. At our spa, we give all of our customers the royal treatment. Give your website the royal treatment with one of our professional web development kits now!
See also: give, royal, treatment

the red-carpet treatment

A welcome or reception marked by great or elaborate hospitality, ceremony, or fanfare. Since Jake is their only child, Robert and Sarah give him the red-carpet treatment whenever he returns home from college. I don't expect the red-carpet treatment or anything, but it would be nice to be greeted with a little more enthusiasm than that! She's one of our most loyal customers, so be sure she gets the red-carpet treatment whenever she comes into the store.
See also: treatment

the silent treatment

A punishment in which one completely ignores or refuses to speak to someone. I didn't think he would be so offended by my joke, but he's been giving me the silent treatment for days now.
See also: silent, treatment

the treatment is worse than the disease

1. Literally, the drug, surgery, procedure, etc., used to cure or mitigate a disease or ailment ultimately leads to worse symptoms than the original condition caused or might have caused. While the drug has proven to be effective in combating the disease, it has also been shown to ravage the body in other, more devastating ways. It seems at this point that the treatment is worse than the disease.
2. By extension, the solution to a problem or crisis leads to worse conditions overall than the original problem did or would have. Often used in negative constructions for rhetorical effect. The board of directors' plan to deal with the economic downturn is to reduce the entire company to a skeleton crew. I know drastic action needs to be taken, but we want to make sure the treatment isn't worse than the disease! I know you want to repeal federal regulations to stimulate the financial sector, but that will inevitably lead to gross misconduct throughout the industry. Sometimes the treatment is worse than the disease.
See also: disease, treatment, worse
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*red-carpet treatment

Fig. very special treatment; royal treatment. (*Typically: get ~; have ~; give someone ~.) I love to go to fancy stores where I get the red-carpet treatment. The queen expects to get the red-carpet treatment wherever she goes.
See also: treatment
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

give someone the silent treatment

If you give someone the silent treatment, you do not speak to them for a period of time because you are annoyed with them. He fully expected his mother to give him the silent treatment.
See also: give, silent, someone, treatment
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

the silent treatment

a stubborn refusal to talk to someone, especially after a recent argument or disagreement.
2000 Independent Since the complaint, Ms Thomas , who has worked for the City police since 1994 , claims she has been given the silent treatment.
See also: silent, treatment
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

give somebody/get the ˈsilent treatment

refuse to talk to somebody, usually because you are angry with them; be treated in this way: Are you going to talk to me now, or are you still giving me the silent treatment?
See also: get, give, silent, somebody, treatment
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

red-carpet treatment, the

Lavish hospitality; a royal welcome. This term comes from the practice of rolling out a carpet for a particularly esteemed visitor to walk on. Although similar practices surely were common from the earliest days of welcoming royalty, the term red carpet dates only from the early twentieth century. The OED cites a news story in the Daily Mail (1960) about honoring the two-millionth passenger to leave London via TWA jet: “There was a hitch when Mr. Mueller arrived. He is just two years and four months old. The red-carpet treatment went to his mother.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a cure worse than the ailment
  • a cure worse than the disease
  • a treatment worse than the disease
  • ailment
  • cure
  • disease
  • the cure is worse than the ailment
  • the cure is worse than the disease
  • the treatment is worse than the disease
  • magic bullet
References in periodicals archive
The gathering of the length of mycelia per bag per treatment was measured from the tip of spawned bags up to the end of mycelia in every fifteen (15) days, until full colonization of mycelia in the bags of substrate, using tape measure in centimeter (cm).
PERFORMANCE OF OYSTER MUSHROOM (PLEUROTUS OSTREATUS L.) ON DIFFERENT SIZES OF POLYPROPYLENE BAGS GROWN IN RICE STRAW AS A SUBSTRATE
Each patient completed a 13-item questionnaire upon entering the program and again after 2 weeks of treatment. The questionnaire asked patients whether they needed hospitalization, whether they were coerced to join the program, and what their perceptions were of the hospital-admission process.
Starved for assistance: coercion finds a place in the treatment of two eating disorders
While some of the functional hypotheses were difficult, designing an effective treatment is the most difficult aspect of the simulation.
Case difficulty of simulation software
It is clear that there is a dramatic need for improved thrombolytics for the treatment of this devastating disease.
THROMBOGENICS STARTS PHASE IIA OF MICROPLASMIN FOR STROKE
"When I think back to the beginning of my tenure with the seed treatment group, on the one hand it's hard to believe we've accomplished so much so fast," says Winston.
Teamwork and focus: secrets behind Syngenta Seed Care's path to the top
Notably, type of pregnancy failure and gestational age at the time of treatment were not significantly related to either overall success or success after one dose.
Early pregnancy failure: misoprostol may be good alternative to surgery
Knowing the carrier's standards for frequency of treatment is important.
Code smart, collect sooner
The lead plaintiff, Robert Hilton, had begun treatment at a New York City public hospital for his hepatitis C and subsequent liver disease in 2002.
Prison outbreak: an epidemic of hepatitis C
Jim Graham, water treatment specialist for papermaking technologies, Buckman Laboratories International, Memphis, Tennessee, agreed.
Water treatment: striking a balance
Over the last 30 plus years, he has become a thorn in the side of conventional cancer physicians, not least for his idiosyncratic behavior and treatment methods, which are based on a lifetime of experimentation and observation, and a belief in the holistic nature of the human body.
Medical maverick Tsuneo Kobayashi: a forerunner of cancer treatment and prevention
Hundreds of community organizations and individuals signed a consensus letter to Tibotec for pricing that is cost neutral, instead of pushing up the cost of treatment with every new drug.
Prezista (darunavir, TMC-114) approved; may be important treatment advance
The company will also apply the solid waste treatment technologies inherited from Niigata Tekkosho to develop technologies to create waste treatment facilities.
Hitachi Zosen Withdraws from Human Waste Treatment and Agricultural Wastewater Treatment Businesses
Vickers SA, Switzerland, has developed a surface treatment process called Vickersil especially adapted for metal surfaces in contact with molten plastics and/or elastomers.
New metal surface treatment for improved elastomer molding
After 6 weeks of treatment with piperacillin-tazobactam, the patient was discharged from the hospital.
Atypical infections in tsunami survivors