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
Even as his pain intensified and his leg grew worse without adequate blood flow, he was not immediately relocated to an intensive care unit, but was instead moved for several days between post-anesthesia units, despite Lisa Wolff’s protestations, the suit said.
—Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register, 27 Feb. 2025
The other fisherman who lived through the ordeal, Enrique Diaz, 55, is recovering in the surgical intensive care unit at Staten Island University Hospital North.
—Ellen Moynihan, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2025
Youssef Al-Najar, 2 months old, lies in an intensive care unit at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Tuesday.
—Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 26 Feb. 2025
An intensive care unit doctor, nurse and custodian suffered gunshot wounds, and a fourth employee was injured in a fall, according to Barker.
—John Miller, CNN, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
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Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register, 27 Feb. 2025
The other fisherman who lived through the ordeal, Enrique Diaz, 55, is recovering in the surgical intensive care unit at Staten Island University Hospital North.
—Ellen Moynihan, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2025
Youssef Al-Najar, 2 months old, lies in an intensive care unit at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Tuesday.
—Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 26 Feb. 2025
An intensive care unit doctor, nurse and custodian suffered gunshot wounds, and a fourth employee was injured in a fall, according to Barker.
—John Miller, CNN, 24 Feb. 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 5 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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