1
a
: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors
b
: the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care
2
: the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and other resources can be best used, are most needed, or are most likely to achieve success
triage
transitive verb
Examples of triage in a Sentence
Nurses do triage in the emergency room.
Recent Examples on the Web
During a September 2025 exercise, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency held a triage challenge to test the abilities of drones to cooperate with humans in responding to casualties.
—
Zita Ballinger Fletcher, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026
Pino was eventually transferred to another police boat and taken to Elliott Key, where firefighters and police set up a triage and staging area.
—David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 10 June 2026
Community health work is so often a matter of triage, and Alejo is an expert at judging in the moment what actually demands her attention.
—Megan Greenwell, Bloomberg, 9 June 2026
Every three months about 30 patients referred by primary care clinics move from a busy waiting room to a triage desk, then down a hallway of exam rooms labeled for the day to render wound care, imaging tests, evaluations, and compression sock fittings.
—Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 8 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for triage
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Zita Ballinger Fletcher, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026
Pino was eventually transferred to another police boat and taken to Elliott Key, where firefighters and police set up a triage and staging area.
—David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 10 June 2026
Community health work is so often a matter of triage, and Alejo is an expert at judging in the moment what actually demands her attention.
—Megan Greenwell, Bloomberg, 9 June 2026
Every three months about 30 patients referred by primary care clinics move from a busy waiting room to a triage desk, then down a hallway of exam rooms labeled for the day to render wound care, imaging tests, evaluations, and compression sock fittings.
—Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 8 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for triage
Cite this Entry
“Triage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/triage. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
1
: the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors
2
: the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care
triage
transitive verb
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