doctor
Americannoun
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doctors
plural
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a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian.
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a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree.
He is a Doctor of Philosophy.
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Older Slang. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.
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Machinery. any of various minor mechanical devices, especially one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.
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Angling. any of several artificial flies, especially the silver doctor.
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an eminent scholar and teacher.
verb (used with object)
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doctors,
present (3rd person singular)
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doctored,
past participle, past
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doctoring
present participle
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to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to.
He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.
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to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to.
He doctored his cold at home.
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to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend.
She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.
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to tamper with; falsify.
He doctored the birthdate on his passport.
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to add a foreign substance to; adulterate.
Someone had doctored the drink.
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to revise, alter, or adapt (a photograph, manuscript, etc.) in order to serve a specific purpose or to improve the material.
to doctor a play.
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to award a doctorate to.
He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.
verb (used without object)
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doctors,
present (3rd person singular)
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doctored,
past participle, past
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doctoring
present participle
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to practice medicine.
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Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.
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Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.
noun
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a person licensed to practise medicine
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a person who has been awarded a higher academic degree in any field of knowledge
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a person licensed to practise dentistry or veterinary medicine
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Also called: Doctor of the Church. (often capital) a title given to any of several of the leading Fathers or theologians in the history of the Christian Church down to the late Middle Ages whose teachings have greatly influenced orthodox Christian thought
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angling any of various gaudy artificial flies
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informal a person who mends or repairs things
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slang a cook on a ship or at a camp
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archaic a man, esp a teacher, of learning
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a device used for local repair of electroplated surfaces, consisting of an anode of the plating material embedded in an absorbent material containing the solution
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(in a paper-making machine) a blade that is set to scrape the roller in order to regulate the thickness of pulp or ink on it
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a cool sea breeze blowing in some countries
the Cape doctor
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slang to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race
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something needed or desired
verb
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(tr)
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to give medical treatment to
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to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)
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informal (intr) to practise medicine
he doctored in Easter Island for six years
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(tr) to repair or mend, esp in a makeshift manner
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(tr) to make different in order to deceive, tamper with, falsify, or adulterate
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(tr) to adapt for a desired end, effect, etc
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(tr) to castrate (a cat, dog, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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doctorshipnoun
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subdoctornoun
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superdoctornoun
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underdoctornoun
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doctoraladjective
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doctorialadjective
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doctorlessadjective
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undoctoredadjective
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doctorallyadverb
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doctoriallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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doctorsimple
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doctorssimple
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have doctoredperfect
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has doctoredperfect
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am doctoringprogressive
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are doctoringprogressive
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is doctoringprogressive
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have been doctoringperfect progressive
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has been doctoringperfect progressive
Past
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doctoredsimple
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had doctoredperfect
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was doctoringprogressive
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were doctoringprogressive
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had been doctoringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of doctor
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English docto(u)r, from Anglo-French, from Latin, from doc(ēre) “to teach” + -tor -tor
Explanation
You see doctor, and you think of someone doing good — like the medical doctor who saves lives. However, a person who doctors or tampers with a document is adding something wrong or harmful to it, like a lie. Doctor is the Latin word for "teacher," which makes sense since your doctor is often the one teaching you about how to take care of your body. Anyone who has a PhD, be it in English or Egyptology, is also referred to as a doctor because she holds a doctorate degree. But beware, there's also a market out there for doctored, or tampered-with diplomas, where you can buy a fake degree to call yourself a doctor.
Vocabulary lists containing doctor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A bike racing controversy that doesn’t involve a rogue doctor and a midnight raid by the gendarmerie?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
According to our doctor, the next few months would present our best chance at a pregnancy.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
The good doctor exercised his Fifth Amendment rights in response to most questions, correctly pointing out that Paul has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.”
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
"It's like being a doctor and seeing all these sick people in the community and you know how to fix them, but no one will let you do that."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Daisy said, “Mama, maybe you should make him stay in bed for four or five days and let me doctor him.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
The answers they’re getting present a challenge for doctors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
The findings could eventually help doctors identify which patients are most likely to benefit from immunotherapy.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
Inside, in scribbled blue handwriting, we found dozens of names - from shopkeepers and doctors, to military officials and people with the Luka family name.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Further, they can be hard for primary care doctors, who might not be familiar with every tick-borne affliction, to catch.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
Photographs of doctors at work, though, are rare.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
According to the lawsuit and subsequent discovery, they doctored a 911 report, stating that the call was unfounded and that no suspect was identified, omitting Williams’ identity.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
"Some of my friends have seen doctored images of themselves which look really convincing," she said.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
Soon, real and doctored versions of those photos were filtering their way across the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
The former prince, who has always denied any wrongdoing, has previously questioned whether the picture had been doctored and claimed he had never met Giuffre.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
On a previous trip to Cuba, Farmer had also doctored Eduardo.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Javice was arrested in 2023 for doctoring customer lists while selling her company, Frank, to JPMorgan for $175 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
The clinic note is a vital part of doctoring.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, apologized on Monday for doctoring a photo of her with her three children, which was recalled by several news agencies on Sunday after they determined the image had been manipulated.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
In the fall of 2023, fans speculated that the singer was doctoring her Instagram pictures, including those of her and DDG’s Halloween costumes and those from the “Color Purple” premiere in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
“My dear Isabella,”—exclaimed he hastily—“pray do not concern yourself about my looks. Be satisfied with doctoring and coddling yourself and the children, and let me look as I chuse.”
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
