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doctor

[ dok-ter ]

/ ˈdɒk tər /

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See synonyms for: doctor / doctored / doctoring on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian.

a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree: He is a Doctor of Philosophy.

Doctor of the Church.

Older Slang. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.

Machinery. any of various minor mechanical devices, especially one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.

Angling. any of several artificial flies, especially the silver doctor.

an eminent scholar and teacher.

verb (used with object)

to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to: He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.

to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to: He doctored his cold at home.

to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend: She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.

to tamper with; falsify: He doctored the birthdate on his passport.

to add a foreign substance to; adulterate: Someone had doctored the drink.

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.

to award a doctorate to: He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.

verb (used without object)

to practice medicine.

Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.

Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.

VIDEO FOR DOCTOR

When Did The Word "Doctor" Become Medical?

The roots of the word "doctor" don’t have anything to do with medical practice. So when did this word start describing those in the medical field?

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QUIZ

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Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

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Origin of doctor

1275–1325; Middle English docto(u)r (<Anglo-French ) <Latin, equivalent to doc(ēre) to teach + -tor-tor

OTHER WORDS FROM doctor

doc·tor·al, doc·to·ri·al

[dok-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-], /dɒkˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr-/, adjectivedoc·tor·al·ly, doc·to·ri·al·ly, adverbdoc·tor·less, adjectivedoc·tor·ship, noun

sub·doc·tor, nounsu·per·doc·tor, nounun·der·doc·tor, nounun·doc·tored, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH doctor

doctor , physician

Words nearby doctor

Doc Martens, doco, docosahexaenoic acid, docosanoic, do credit to, doctor, doctorate, Doctor Faustus, doctorfish, Doctor Livingstone, I presume?, Doctor of Philosophy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use doctor in a sentence

Instead, the doctor informed her that he had also removed one of her fallopian tubes and that she could expect to have difficulty conceiving if she wanted to have more children.
A woman in ICE detention says her fallopian tube was removed without her consent|Nicole Narea|September 17, 2020|Vox
Sridhar wasn’t at all surprised that Israel just imposed a new lockdown, or that Madrid — where doctors are calling the situation “March in slow motion” — is also resorting to lockdown measures.
The new Covid-19 case surge in Europe, explained|Julia Belluz|September 17, 2020|Vox
A very popular example is that it’s virtually impossible to rank a website providing medical advice without an actual doctor writing the articles.
Google ranking factors to change search in 2021: Core Web Vitals, E-A-T, or AMP?|Aleh Barysevich|September 16, 2020|Search Engine Watch
In other words, the original suggestion that people not wear masks derived at least to some extent from the inability of the government to provide sufficient protective equipment to doctors and nurses.
Parsing Trump’s baffling, head-slapping comments on mask-wearing|Philip Bump|September 16, 2020|Washington Post

She says that her dream of becoming a doctor and helping people wasn’t possible at the time, but now she feels like a doctor and is so proud to be part of helping people.
How the Best Workplaces in Manufacturing have risen to the COVID-19 challenge|lbelanger225|September 10, 2020|Fortune
My doctor insisted that once I filed this piece I lie down on my bed and not get out.
I Tried to Warn You About Sleazy Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2003|Vicky Ward|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That is a fact recorded by the doctor in charge of the ambulance at the inquest.
Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play|Tom Sykes|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
After what seemed a desperate eternity, a doctor shook his head.
'Please Don't Die!': The Frantic Battle to Save Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Not long after I was finally diagnosed, my doctor ordered a bone density scan.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder|Carrie Arnold|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
My doctor put me on oral contraceptives to induce a period, figuring it would help build bone.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder|Carrie Arnold|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
How little did he divine that the letter of the doctor was called forth by a communication from the countess-dowager.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
He is what the bill wishes to make for us, a regular root doctor, and will suit the place exactly.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;|Various
You may imagine the effect this missive produced upon the proud, high-minded doctor of divinity.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
He became a doctor in two hours, and it only cost him twenty dollars to complete his education.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;|Various
Though, as everybody well knew, the doctor had forbidden her to lift so much as a pin!
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin

British Dictionary definitions for doctor

doctor

/ (ˈdɒktə) /

noun

a person licensed to practise medicine

a person who has been awarded a higher academic degree in any field of knowledge

mainly US and Canadian a person licensed to practise dentistry or veterinary medicine

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

angling any of various gaudy artificial flies

informal a person who mends or repairs things

slang a cook on a ship or at a camp

archaic a man, esp a teacher, of learning

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

(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

a cool sea breeze blowing in some countriesthe Cape doctor

go for the doctor Australian slang to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race

what the doctor ordered something needed or desired

verb

(tr)

to give medical treatment to
to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)

(intr) informal to practise medicinehe doctored in Easter Island for six years

(tr) to repair or mend, esp in a makeshift manner

(tr) to make different in order to deceive, tamper with, falsify, or adulterate

(tr) to adapt for a desired end, effect, etc

(tr) to castrate (a cat, dog, etc)

Derived forms of doctor

doctoral or doctorial (dɒkˈtɔːrɪəl), adjective

Word Origin for doctor

C14: from Latin: teacher, from docēre to teach

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with doctor

doctor

see just what the doctor ordered.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.