surgery
Americannoun
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the art, practice, or work of treating diseases, injuries, or deformities by manual or operative procedures.
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the branch of medicine concerned with such treatment.
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treatment, as an operation, performed by a surgeon.
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a room or place for surgical operations.
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British. a doctor's or dentist's office or office hours.
noun
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the branch of medicine concerned with treating disease, injuries, etc, by means of manual or operative procedures, esp by incision into the body
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the performance of such procedures by a surgeon
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a place where a doctor, dentist, etc, can be consulted
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an occasion when an MP, lawyer, etc, is available for consultation
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an operating theatre where surgical operations are performed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of surgery
1250–1300; Middle English surgerie < Old French cirurgerie chirurgery
Explanation
Surgery is a medical procedure, usually involving an incision and instruments. A surgery is done to fix or prevent a health problem. There are a lot of kinds of surgery in the world. Some are very serious, like brain surgery and heart surgery. Others are minor, like getting your appendix removed. In most cases, you'll be unconscious for surgery, to make it easier for the surgeon to get the job done. You can also call the room where surgeries are done a surgery, and talk about the field of surgery.
Vocabulary lists containing surgery
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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.
Surgery resident Hassan-James Abbas was indicted in December by a Lucas County, Ohio, grand jury, which accused him of unlawful distribution of an abortion-inducing drug and five other felony counts.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
She also holds a joint appointment in the Center for Musculoskeletal Research in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery.
From Science Daily • Mar. 23, 2026
"Surgery went well! Thanks for all the messages," he said on Instagram.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026
Madonna has since shifted her philanthropy toward community schools and funded the Mercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery, the country’s first specialised paediatric hospital.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
Not until I sat in there with my class on Brain Surgery Day.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
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.
