surgeon
Americannoun
noun
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a medical practioner who specializes in surgery
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a medical officer in the Royal Navy
Etymology
Origin of surgeon
1250–1300; Middle English surgien < Anglo-French, alteration of Old French cirurgien chirurgeon
Explanation
A surgeon is a kind of doctor who treats his patients by using his hands, often by performing surgery. If you're comfortable slicing into a person's body to remove an appendix, then you might make a decent surgeon. The word surgeon comes from the Greek kheirourgos, which is a fancy way of saying "done by the hand." Whereas a doctor-at-large might treat his patients by chatting with them, asking questions, and prescribing medications, a surgeon's work is much more hands-on, you might say. A surgeon specializes in cutting open the body, usually to heal his patients.
Vocabulary lists containing surgeon
Occupations
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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.
I must confess I had never heard of Alexis Carrel, the French surgeon who in 1912 won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
White and her daughter, who has cerebral palsy, were waiting in the bay for her husband to bring his car around when Mackay arrived for a consultation with a spinal surgeon.
From BBC • May 18, 2026
But most of his testimony Monday related to his previous relationship with Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and wife of renowned surgeon Peter Grossman.
From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026
The project also included Duke University plastic surgeon David A. Brown, who studies digit regeneration in mice, and Kenneth D. Poss of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose research focuses on fin regeneration in zebrafish.
From Science Daily • May 9, 2026
The Second Grinnell Expedition’s “intrepid” crew was under the leadership of what New York’s Daily Herald called, “the indefatigable perseverance and indomitable courage” possessed by its thirty-three-year-old naval surgeon and commander.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
