nurse
Americannoun
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a person formally educated and trained in the care of the sick or infirm.
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a woman who has the general care of a child or children; dry nurse.
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a woman employed to suckle an infant; wet nurse.
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any fostering agency or influence.
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Entomology. a worker that attends the young in a colony of social insects.
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Billiards. the act of maintaining the position of billiard balls in preparation for a carom.
verb (used with object)
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to tend or minister to in sickness, infirmity, etc.
- Antonyms:
- neglect
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to try to cure (an ailment) by taking care of oneself.
to nurse a cold.
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to look after carefully so as to promote growth, development, etc.; foster; cherish.
to nurse one's meager talents.
- Antonyms:
- neglect
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to treat or handle with adroit care in order to further one's own interests.
to nurse one's nest egg.
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to use, consume, or dispense very slowly or carefully.
He nursed the one drink all evening.
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to keep steadily in mind or memory.
He nursed a grudge against me all the rest of his life.
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to suckle (an infant).
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to feed and tend in infancy.
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to bring up, train, or nurture.
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to clasp or handle carefully or fondly.
to nurse a plate of food on one's lap.
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Billiards. to maintain the position of (billiard balls) for a series of caroms.
verb (used without object)
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to suckle a child, especially one's own.
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(of a child) to suckle.
The child did not nurse after he was three months old.
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to act as nurse; tend the sick or infirm.
noun
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a person who tends the sick, injured, or infirm
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short for nursemaid
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a woman employed to breast-feed another woman's child; wet nurse
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a worker in a colony of social insects that takes care of the larvae
verb
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(also intr) to tend (the sick)
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(also intr) to feed (a baby) at the breast; suckle
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to try to cure (an ailment)
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to clasp carefully or fondly
she nursed the crying child in her arms
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(also intr) (of a baby) to suckle at the breast (of)
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to look after (a child) as one's employment
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to attend to carefully; foster, cherish
he nursed the magazine through its first year
having a very small majority he nursed the constituency diligently
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to harbour; preserve
to nurse a grudge
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billiards to keep (the balls) together for a series of cannons
Usage
What does nurse mean? A nurse is someone who has been formally trained and educated to tend to the sick and infirm, as in The nurse double-checked the dosage of drugs the cancer patient was receiving. Related to this sense, nurse can be used to mean to tend to a person who is sick, infirm, or injured, as in The father nursed his daughter while she was sick with chickenpox. Nurse can also mean to take care of oneself to try to cure something, as in Jonah was nursing a cold last week. Nurse is also used to mean to breast-feed a baby, as in The mother cat nursed her litter of kittens. And nurse can mean to look after something carefully or to cherish something, as in Pat nursed her new company through the recession. Example: My brother went to school to be a nurse and is now working at the local hospital.
Synonym Usage
Nurse, nourish, nurture may be used almost interchangeably to refer to bringing up the young. Nurse, however, suggests attendance and service; nourish emphasizes providing whatever is needful for development; and nurture suggests tenderness and solicitude in training mind and manners.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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nursesimple
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nursessimple
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have nursedperfect
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has nursedperfect
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am nursingprogressive
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are nursingprogressive
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is nursingprogressive
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have been nursingperfect progressive
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has been nursingperfect progressive
Past
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nursedsimple
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had nursedperfect
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was nursingprogressive
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were nursingprogressive
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had been nursingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nurse
First recorded before 1350–1400; (noun) Middle English, variant of n(o)urice, norice, from Old French, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun use of feminine of Latin nūtrīcius nutritious; (verb) earlier nursh (reduced form of nourish ), assimilated to the noun
Explanation
A nurse is a trained healthcare worker who takes care of sick people. To nurse is to take care of, like if you nurse a baby bird back to health. To become a nurse, you have to go to college and study subjects like anatomy and nutrition. Some nurses assist doctors and perform tasks like bathing patients, taking blood samples, or giving medication. When you use the word nurse as a verb, it means "care for," and also "breastfeed a baby." The Latin root, nutrire, means "to nourish." To nurse a drink is to drink it slowly, and to nurse an idea is to mull it over.
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:
Svitlana, 48, a nurse in an airborne assault unit, also saw the arrival of Drapaty -- a respected "combat officer" -- as "positive."
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The 40-year-old nurse worried he wouldn’t get enough of a mental and physical break.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
In one, Brett Palmer is holding his son and smiling after the nurse said Jackson was recovering well.
From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2026
Morrison, who grew up in eastern Montana with a nurse mother and incarcerated father, was a founding member of Bozeman Tenants United, the union chapter that has since helped the mobile home parks strike.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
I had to make up a story about my parents having an important meeting with a financial person to get the nurse to call Liz.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
The findings provide early evidence that communication between neural circuits helps determine whether a worker bee nurses the queen, builds or guards the hive, or searches for food.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
The Nottingham Inquiry, which heard evidence from doctors, nurses and other NHS staff, was told there had been numerous errors in Calocane's care and management.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Ms. Brown catalogs the patient loads, paperwork and hospital hierarchies that wear nurses down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The endorsement may come with some financial support, with the group saying it has raised some $25 million to fund its goal of electing more doctors and nurses to office between now and 2030.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Soldiers, sailors, pilots, and nurses were on their way to war in the Pacific.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
She nursed a swollen ankle after falling in the evacuation centre.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Even classical music listeners have their version in what may be the most legendary rivalry of all — the one that also-ran Italian composer Antonio Salieri supposedly nursed with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
From Salon ● May 16, 2026
A dog that was rescued from what an inspector described as one of the "worst jobs" of her career has found a new home with the vet who nursed her back to health.
From BBC ● Jan. 4, 2026
While my mom nursed her post-prandial local beer, my kid and I went for a leisurely stroll through a nearby park.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025
Riot went on without me while me and Violet nursed my head.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
In an effort to keep more people in their own homes and avoid the expense of a nursing home, Medicaid programs across the nation have been expanding their coverage of home care.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
People have been evacuated from nursing homes, campsites, public buildings and private homes as the flames encroach on urban areas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
They can then spread through hospitals, nursing homes, and communities.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
She returns to a western Pennsylvania town called Harmony, where she once had “a horrible, endless date over crepes,” to investigate a strike over pay and working conditions at a troubled nursing home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
I was supposed to be visiting Mr. Harris tonight, but Dad called the nursing home and said I was sick.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
