geriatrics
Americannoun
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the branch of medicine dealing with the diseases, debilities, and care of aged people.
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the study of the physical processes and problems of aging; gerontology.
noun
Usage
The term geriatric medicine is often used nowadays in preference to geriatrics
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of geriatrics
Explanation
If you become a doctor who specializes in geriatrics, your patients will mainly be elderly people. The medical branch of geriatrics focuses on the health issues and diseases of old age. A doctor who specializes in this kind of medicine might be called a geriatric physician or a geriatrician. Geriatrics was originally based on the word pediatrics, the medical care of children, and comes from the Greek geron, which means "old age" or "old man."
Vocabulary lists containing geriatrics
List 9
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List 13
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iatr (healing); therap (medical treatment)
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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.
In March 2023, Schmidt met with George Hennawi, the MedStar system’s physician executive director of geriatrics and senior services, as well as others, including a pharmacist who went through her medications.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
But some people do opt for testing which is outside standard age-based guidelines, says Dr Carla Perissinotto, a geriatrics specialist at the University of California San Francisco.
From BBC • Dec. 1, 2025
Fried, the Yale School of Medicine physician, works in geriatrics, and it weighs heavily on her mind whether her older patients are truly absorbing the medical information they need to know.
From Slate • May 2, 2025
Such testing is not readily at hand because of the paucity of effective treatment for Alzheimer’s, which has helped to make geriatrics a relatively unappealing specialty.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 13, 2023
She wore the insignia of a geriatrics supervisor.
From Life Sentence by Francis, Dick
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.
