surgery

American  

[sur-juh-ree] / ˈsɜr dʒə ri /

noun

surgeries plural

1. the art, practice, or work of treating diseases, injuries, or deformities by manual or operative procedures.

2. the branch of medicine concerned with such treatment.

3. treatment, as an operation, performed by a surgeon.

4. a room or place for surgical operations.

5. British. a doctor's or dentist's office or office hours.

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surgery British  

/ ˈsɜːdʒərɪ /

noun

1. the branch of medicine concerned with treating disease, injuries, etc, by means of manual or operative procedures, esp by incision into the body

2. the performance of such procedures by a surgeon

3. a place where a doctor, dentist, etc, can be consulted

4. an occasion when an MP, lawyer, etc, is available for consultation

5. an operating theatre where surgical operations are performed

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• presurgery
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• surgeries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of surgery

1250–1300; Middle English surgerie < Old French cirurgerie chirurgery

Explanation

Surgery is a medical procedure, usually involving an incision and instruments. A surgery is done to fix or prevent a health problem. There are a lot of kinds of surgery in the world. Some are very serious, like brain surgery and heart surgery. Others are minor, like getting your appendix removed. In most cases, you'll be unconscious for surgery, to make it easier for the surgeon to get the job done. You can also call the room where surgeries are done a surgery, and talk about the field of surgery.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

surgery surgeries

Intuitive Surgical, maker of da Vinci robot-assisted surgery machines, and lab operators Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp Holdings said these changes are affecting their businesses, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Díaz earned the save in his first major-league appearance since undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow in late April, giving up two hits and a run.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

Because hospital doctors usually cannot repair the underlying dental problem, some children continue to suffer from pain and infection, while others eventually need surgery under general anesthesia.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

As soon as he woke up after surgery, the first thing he did was ask his wife to get him a KFC.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Coal squinted through every one of them and his stomach tightened when he came across skin changes, but those were changes caused by age, trauma, surgery.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

Elevance says plastic surgeons seek $100,000 on average for breast reduction surgeries, while its in-network providers are paid $2,000 to $5,000 on average.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

A fundraising page has raised £105,000 for the boy and his family after the three-year-old was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital, where he has undergone seven surgeries.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

“Following multiple surgeries and serious complications,” L7 said, “Jennifer now requires extensive medical care, rehabilitation and professional in-home support.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026

At the time, care homes, GP surgeries and pharmacies were all expected to source their own PPE, something the report described as a "major failure in planning".

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

She had since read on the Internet that you could take girl hormones that would change your body, and you could get a bunch of different surgeries if you wanted them and had the money.

From "George" by Alex Gino