intensive care unit
noun
plural intensive care units
: a unit in a hospital providing intensive care for critically ill or injured patients that is staffed by specially trained medical personnel and has equipment that allows for continuous monitoring and life support
Our patients were without question seriously ill. This reflects the selection of more serious, life-threatening attempts for admission to the intensive care unit.—
Theodore A. Stern et al.
Theodore A. Stern et al.The array of equipment that is now so familiar a part of intensive care units sustains lives that previously would have been lost.—Franz J. Ingelfinger
—abbreviation ICU
Franz J. Ingelfingercalled also critical care unit
Examples of intensive care unit in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
He was admitted into the intensive care unit, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
—Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 22 Mar. 2023
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, his wife's condition rapidly deteriorated, and she was placed on a ventilator in an intensive care unit.
—Landon Mion, Fox News, 20 Mar. 2023
Following the accident, Renner was flown to a hospital, where he was placed in an intensive care unit and underwent surgery.
—Charles Trepany, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2023
At the time, Cherington was working at a high-pressure job as an exercise physiology-and-physical-therapy assistant in the intensive care unit at a Boston hospital.
—Emilia Benton, SELF, 15 Mar. 2023
Baby Elayna spent the first week of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit, enclosed in a plastic crib that resembled an aquarium.
—Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, 14 Mar. 2023
Brian Peach nursed Covid patients in an intensive care unit early in the pandemic.
—Erika Edwards, NBC News, 11 Mar. 2023
But experts did find high levels of mycobacteria from ice and water machine samples on the cardiac surgery intensive care unit and stepdown unit.
—Jessica Bartlett, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Mar. 2023
Brian Peach worked as a nurse in the Covid intensive care unit at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida early in the pandemic, before Covid vaccines were widely available.
—Erika Edwards, NBC News, 11 Mar. 2023
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of
Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback
about these examples.
Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 22 Mar. 2023
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, his wife's condition rapidly deteriorated, and she was placed on a ventilator in an intensive care unit.
—Landon Mion, Fox News, 20 Mar. 2023
Following the accident, Renner was flown to a hospital, where he was placed in an intensive care unit and underwent surgery.
—Charles Trepany, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2023
At the time, Cherington was working at a high-pressure job as an exercise physiology-and-physical-therapy assistant in the intensive care unit at a Boston hospital.
—Emilia Benton, SELF, 15 Mar. 2023
Baby Elayna spent the first week of her life in the neonatal intensive care unit, enclosed in a plastic crib that resembled an aquarium.
—Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, 14 Mar. 2023
Brian Peach nursed Covid patients in an intensive care unit early in the pandemic.
—Erika Edwards, NBC News, 11 Mar. 2023
But experts did find high levels of mycobacteria from ice and water machine samples on the cardiac surgery intensive care unit and stepdown unit.
—Jessica Bartlett, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Mar. 2023
Brian Peach worked as a nurse in the Covid intensive care unit at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida early in the pandemic, before Covid vaccines were widely available.
—Erika Edwards, NBC News, 11 Mar. 2023
Articles Related to intensive care unit
Dictionary Entries Near intensive care unit
Cite this Entry
“Intensive care unit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive%20care%20unit. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share