doctor

American  

[dok-ter] / ˈdɒk tər /

noun

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

2. a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree.

   He is a Doctor of Philosophy.

3. Doctor of the Church.

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

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

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

7. an eminent scholar and teacher.

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verb (used with object)

1. to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to.

   He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.

2. to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to.

   He doctored his cold at home.

3. to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend.

   She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.

4. to tamper with; falsify.

   He doctored the birthdate on his passport.

5. to add a foreign substance to; adulterate.

   Someone had doctored the drink.

6. 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.

7. to award a doctorate to.

   He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.

verb (used without object)

1. to practice medicine.

2. Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.

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

doctor British  

/ ˈdɒktə, dɒkˈtɔːrɪəl /

noun

1. a person licensed to practise medicine

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

3. a person licensed to practise dentistry or veterinary medicine

4. 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

5. angling any of various gaudy artificial flies

6. informal a person who mends or repairs things

7. slang a cook on a ship or at a camp

8. archaic a man, esp a teacher, of learning

9. 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

10. (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

11. a cool sea breeze blowing in some countries

    the Cape doctor

12. slang to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race

13. something needed or desired

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verb

1. (tr)

   1. to give medical treatment to

   2. to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)

2. informal (intr) to practise medicine

   he doctored in Easter Island for six years

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

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

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

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

doctor Idioms  

1. see just what the doctor ordered.

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Other Word Forms

• doctoral adjective
• doctorally adverb
• doctorial adjective
• doctorially adverb
• doctorless adjective
• doctorship noun
• subdoctor noun
• superdoctor noun
• underdoctor noun
• undoctored adjective

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.

Example Sentences

A doctor has been struck off after running an unregistered clinic and charging cancer patients £15,000 for bogus "cures" with garlic oil and vitamin C.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

If your doctor hears a murmur while listening to your heart, he or she will likely order an echocardiogram—an ultrasound of the heart that allows a doctor to diagnose the disease and determine care.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 25, 2026

In November, a new primary care doctor told Glannan her heart sounded like “a bunch of galloping horses,” Glannan recalled.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

The emergency room doctor, Juan Carlos Pinto, who arrived by ambulance at his home, on Thursday testified about the condition in which he found the star after his death.

From Barron's • Apr. 23, 2026

The doctor hurried in and took me out.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Related Words

• expert
• physician
• professor
• scientist
• specialist
• surgeon