checkup
Americannoun
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a comprehensive physical examination.
He went to the doctor for a checkup.
-
an examination or close scrutiny, as for verification, accuracy, or comparison.
They gave the motor a checkup.
noun
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an examination to see if something is in order
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med a medical examination, esp one taken at regular intervals to verify a normal state of health or discover a disease in its early stages
verb
Etymology
Origin of checkup
1885–90, noun use of verb phrase check up
Explanation
When your doctor gives you a physical exam, you can call it a checkup. During a checkup, you'll probably be weighed and have your blood pressure taken. You might get a yearly checkup at your doctor's office, or go in for a checkup after a minor car accident, just to make sure you're okay. A routine visit to the dentist is also a checkup. The word checkup first appeared around 1920, from the idea that a doctor has a checklist of things to test or examine.
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.
At a routine 20-week checkup, however, she learned that she was suffering from preterm premature rupture of membranes and that her baby would not survive.
From Slate • May 4, 2026
That kind of invasive sampling is not something that can be done during a routine checkup.
From Science Daily • Dec. 17, 2025
But there’s a difference between a doctor who catches something early on a routine checkup, and a doctor who runs into the waiting room yelling, “Cancel my afternoon appointments.”
From MarketWatch • Dec. 5, 2025
“I went in for a PET scan, just a routine checkup, and something flared on the PET scan,” the comedian told “Today’s” Craig Melvin.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 2, 2025
“He went in for a checkup and the doctor told him he had two months to live. He died two months later.”
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
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.
