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
The accident should be a salutary lesson to be more careful. the low interest rates should have a salutary effect on business
Recent Examples on the WebBut this would have the salutary effect of compelling colleges to reduce prices. The Editorial Board, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022 Plea bargains have the salutary effect of relieving the justice system of trials that neither the prosecutor nor the defendant wish to pursue.WSJ, 16 Dec. 2021 Jones’s willingness to move beyond a specifically North American canvas is salutary, for much in Brazil’s experience merits the attention of anyone interested in the history of slavery. Larry Rohter, The New York Review of Books, 8 June 2022 One way to put our knowledge about the salutary effects of nature into action is to actually treat outdoor time like medicine in a very literal way: Prescribe it. Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, 8 June 2022 Predictable cash flows have a salutary impact in an economy where uncertainty is the default mode. Rajrishi Singhal, Quartz, 26 Jan. 2022 Even better, this same economic progress has had another salutary impact on health. John Tamny, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2021 This time, the three filmmakers had in mind something more salutary. Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 16 May 2022 The only example of retrenchment that comes to mind is the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which, while salutary in its effects, has been much undermined since its passage. Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 17 Feb. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle French salutaire, from Latin salutaris, from salut-, salus health