doctor
Americannoun
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doctors
plural
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a person licensed to practice medicine, as a physician, surgeon, dentist, or veterinarian.
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a person who has been awarded a doctor's degree.
He is a Doctor of Philosophy.
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Older Slang. a cook, as at a camp or on a ship.
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Machinery. any of various minor mechanical devices, especially one designed to remedy an undesirable characteristic of an automatic process.
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Angling. any of several artificial flies, especially the silver doctor.
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an eminent scholar and teacher.
verb (used with object)
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doctors,
present (3rd person singular)
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doctored,
past participle, past
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doctoring
present participle
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to give medical treatment to; act as a physician to.
He feels he can doctor himself for just a common cold.
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to treat (an ailment); apply remedies to.
He doctored his cold at home.
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to restore to original or working condition; repair; mend.
She was able to doctor the chipped vase with a little plastic cement.
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to tamper with; falsify.
He doctored the birthdate on his passport.
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to add a foreign substance to; adulterate.
Someone had doctored the drink.
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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.
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to award a doctorate to.
He did his undergraduate work in the U.S. and was doctored at Oxford.
verb (used without object)
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doctors,
present (3rd person singular)
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doctored,
past participle, past
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doctoring
present participle
-
to practice medicine.
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Older Use. to take medicine; receive medical treatment.
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Metallurgy. (of an article being electroplated) to receive plating unevenly.
noun
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a person licensed to practise medicine
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a person who has been awarded a higher academic degree in any field of knowledge
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a person licensed to practise dentistry or veterinary medicine
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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
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angling any of various gaudy artificial flies
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informal a person who mends or repairs things
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slang a cook on a ship or at a camp
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archaic a man, esp a teacher, of learning
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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
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(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
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a cool sea breeze blowing in some countries
the Cape doctor
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slang to make a great effort or move very fast, esp in a horse race
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something needed or desired
verb
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(tr)
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to give medical treatment to
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to prescribe for (a disease or disorder)
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informal (intr) to practise medicine
he doctored in Easter Island for six years
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(tr) to repair or mend, esp in a makeshift manner
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(tr) to make different in order to deceive, tamper with, falsify, or adulterate
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(tr) to adapt for a desired end, effect, etc
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(tr) to castrate (a cat, dog, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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doctorshipnoun
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subdoctornoun
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superdoctornoun
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underdoctornoun
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doctoraladjective
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doctorialadjective
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doctorlessadjective
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undoctoredadjective
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doctorallyadverb
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doctoriallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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doctorsimple
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doctorssimple
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have doctoredperfect
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has doctoredperfect
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am doctoringprogressive
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are doctoringprogressive
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is doctoringprogressive
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have been doctoringperfect progressive
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has been doctoringperfect progressive
Past
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doctoredsimple
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had doctoredperfect
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was doctoringprogressive
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were doctoringprogressive
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had been doctoringperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing doctor
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.
See Examples For:
James Marson and Nikita Nikolaienko spoke with Vlasenko, his commander, Ukrainians involved in the rescue effort and a doctor involved in his care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
I like to doctor it with a little additional miso and coconut cream for richness, then pile on noodles, protein, vegetables and toppings.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
She said he had dreamt of becoming a medical doctor.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Buy the car, if you get the OK from your doctor and insurance company.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
An Irish workman grabs a horse and races ahead for the doctor while the ox cart ambulance rumbles slowly down the half-mile to Cavendish.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Opponents of the measure included doctors who said that it is "not backed by clinical guidelines, and would create unwarranted stress and harm for young girls."
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
Admitted patients like Davis can be seen by inpatient doctors even while waiting in the E.R.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Although the results suggest that heart scans could help doctors make more targeted treatment decisions, the trial did not establish that the scan approach was as effective as conventional risk assessment.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026
PBMs emerged as intermediaries to help health insurers steer doctors and hospitals to the cheapest drug alternatives and give insurers the concentrated heft that would afford them greater leverage in negotiations with drug manufacturers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Later the doctors considered that perhaps he’d been poisoned when he’d been stung by several bees while cutting the lawn.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
His doctored image has appeared in social-media posts depicting him in a Norman Rockwell painting and as the New England Patriots head coach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
By that time, the White House TikTok account already had posted a video, doctored using artificial intelligence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Soon, real and doctored versions of those photos were filtering their way across the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
The former prince, who has always denied any wrongdoing, has previously questioned whether the picture had been doctored and claimed he had never met Giuffre.
From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026
My model of coherent discourse is the original version of the text that I doctored for the opening of the chapter.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Javice was arrested in 2023 for doctoring customer lists while selling her company, Frank, to JPMorgan for $175 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
The clinic note is a vital part of doctoring.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2025
She is alleged to have completed the tests across multiple test centres in the UK, disguising herself and doctoring ID documents to evade detection.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2025
In the fall of 2023, fans speculated that the singer was doctoring her Instagram pictures, including those of her and DDG’s Halloween costumes and those from the “Color Purple” premiere in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
She scolded me a little and started doctoring me.
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
