Salubrious and its synonyms healthful and wholesome all mean favorable to the health of mind or body. Healthful implies a positive contribution to a healthy condition (as in Charles Dickens' advice to "take more healthful exercise"). Wholesome applies to something that benefits you, builds you up, or sustains you physically, mentally, or spiritually. Louisa May Alcott used this sense in Little Women: "Work is wholesome.... It keeps us from ennui and mischief, is good for health and spirits, and gives us a sense of power and independence...." Salubrious is used similarly to both words but tends to apply chiefly to the helpful effects of climate or air.
healthful implies a positive contribution to a healthy condition.
a healthful diet
wholesome applies to what benefits, builds up, or sustains physically, mentally, or spiritually.
wholesome foods
the movie is wholesome family entertainment
salubrious applies chiefly to the helpful effects of climate or air.
cool and salubrious weather
salutary describes something corrective or beneficially effective, even though it may in itself be unpleasant.
a salutary warning that resulted in increased production
Example Sentences
fresh air and exercise are always salubrious
Recent Examples on the WebThe growth in American interest has had a salubrious effect on Formula 1’s business side.New York Times, 14 July 2022 Just as cruising has been appreciated for salubrious ocean views and breezes, everyone has kept mum (at best) about the food, historically produced in one large galley with ingredients from the deep freeze. Sue Bryant, Town & Country, 17 June 2022 In recent years, production sets have been drawn to the suburbs of Naples, and its less salubrious underbelly.New York Times, 17 Dec. 2021 After grapes were picked, an unusual and salubrious warm streak of autumn weather provided a reason for winemakers to set outdoor lunch tables. Tom Mullen, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2021 Activism has become a powerful force in contemporary art of late — exciting, resonant, even potentially reparative in nature, rather than irritatingly salubrious.New York Times, 1 Oct. 2021 The people are openhearted, the infrastructure impeccable, the lifestyle salubrious. Adam Erace, Travel + Leisure, 4 Sep. 2021 If the theory was off base, the results were still salubrious; forty days gave the plague time enough to kill infected rats and sailors. Benjamin Wallace-well, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2021 Tesla’s power units have a particularly salubrious effect on old Porsche s. Dan Neil, WSJ, 5 June 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Latin salubris; akin to salvus safe, healthy — more at safe