Word.ws English Dictionary

on the mend

on the mend prepositional phrase: healing or recovering, as from an injury or illness.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Healing or recovering, as from an injury or illness.
    • My foot is on the mend but it still hurts to walk.
    • My stress and frustration resulted in a spastic colon and the need for weeks of medication. While on the mend, another avenue [for funding] was suggested to me - individual Jewish philanthropists.2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 44
  2. (figuratively) Improving or undergoing restoration to a previous, more favorable condition.
    • Our marriage went through a difficult time, but now it is on the mend.

Questions about on the mend

What does on the mend mean?
On the mend means healing or recovering, as from an injury or illness.
What part of speech is on the mend?
On the mend is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the mend in the dictionary

  1. on the make
  2. on the march
  3. on the mark
  4. on the market
  5. on the mat
  6. on the mend
  7. on the mending hand
  8. on the merits
  9. on the money
  10. on the mop
  11. on the move

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the mend (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on the mend.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on the mend.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_mend. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.