intensive care
noun
1
: the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
Many of the sickest patients need intensive care, even to the point of being connected to a mechanical respirator.—
Lawrence K. Altman
Lawrence K. Altman2
: a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit
heart patients in intensive care
… short of breath and feverish, doctors isolated him in intensive care.—Elisabeth Rosenthal
—often hyphenated when used before another nounElisabeth Rosenthalan intensive-care nurse
Examples of intensive care in a Sentence
Her condition will require intensive care.
Recent Examples on the Web
During the week ending Feb. 22, the most recent week for which data is available, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that just 1.3% of inpatient beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients as well as 1.3% of intensive care unit beds.
—Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 11 Mar. 2025
According to a wrongful death suit filed by the couple's daughter, Wendy Wood Spohr spent a month in an intensive care unit, and several weeks in rehab, after the shootings.
—Newsweek, 10 Mar. 2025
Of those seven, one was a Doral police officer and one was a father and husband who was put in a hospital’s intensive care unit.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 10 Mar. 2025
There is no specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus, the expert said, although early intensive care with oxygen therapy and supportive measures is crucial.
—Melissa Rudy, Fox News, 8 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
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Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 11 Mar. 2025
According to a wrongful death suit filed by the couple's daughter, Wendy Wood Spohr spent a month in an intensive care unit, and several weeks in rehab, after the shootings.
—Newsweek, 10 Mar. 2025
Of those seven, one was a Doral police officer and one was a father and husband who was put in a hospital’s intensive care unit.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 10 Mar. 2025
There is no specific antiviral treatment for hantavirus, the expert said, although early intensive care with oxygen therapy and supportive measures is crucial.
—Melissa Rudy, Fox News, 8 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
Cite this Entry
“Intensive care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive%20care. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
intensive care
1 of 2 noun1
: the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
She required intensive care and survived without sequelae.—The Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association2
: a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit
heart patients in intensive care
a patient isolated in intensive care
He spent several days in intensive care before recovering from the overdose.—Jerome Groopman
Jerome Groopmanintensive care
2 of 2 adjective
variants
also intensive-care
: providing or concerned with continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
intensive care medicine
an intensive-care nurse
also
: receiving medical care in an intensive care unit
intensive care patients
compare acute care, chronic care
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