outpatient
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does outpatient mean? Outpatient is commonly used as an adjective to describe treatment that does not require a patient to stay overnight at a hospital or other care facility—they come and leave on the same day. Outpatient is used in contrast with the term inpatient, which describes treatment that requires a patient to be admitted for at least one night. The terms are especially used in phrases like outpatient procedure (after which the patient can leave, instead of staying for further observation or treatment), inpatient treatment (which requires the patient to stay overnight at the hospital), and inpatient room (where such patients stay). Outpatient and inpatient are typically used in the context of hospitals, though inpatient can also refer to a patient who is admitted overnight at a mental health facility or other kind of clinic. Both terms can also be used as nouns referring to such patients. Example: I have an outpatient procedure scheduled for tomorrow morning, so I should be back home by the afternoon.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of outpatient
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:
Farren said there would "undoubtedly be cancellation of operations, of outpatient appointments and elective care" but patient safety would "still be prioritised".
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
GAE is an outpatient procedure designed to ease chronic knee pain by reducing blood flow to inflamed areas within the joint.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
He was in residential treatment for a few months, then in intensive outpatient treatment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
It typically bundles Part A hospital coverage, Part B outpatient coverage, and Part D drug coverage–often for $0 monthly premiums.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
“I have outpatient therapy from four to five, remember?”
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
The researchers conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 28 outpatients diagnosed with MDD at the Fourth People's Hospital of Taizhou.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 4, 2026
All non-urgent outpatients appointments in a number of hospitals have been cancelled and thousands of homes are without power.
From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2025
Meanwhile, latest figures showed more than 80,100 people, whose eyes were most at risk, were waiting beyond the target time for an outpatients appointment, a new record.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2024
The narrowly passed ballot measure seeks to build facilities with beds for 10,000 patients and provide four times that many outpatients treatment slots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2024
The majority of my friends in there didn’t last, and out of the few that were still with me when I left even fewer survived as outpatients.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
