surgery

American  

[sur-juh-ree] / ˈsɜr dʒə ri /

noun

plural

surgeries

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

• presurgery
  adjective

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

"But then I thought, what if she dies without the surgery? This way at least she will be alive."

From BBC • May 18, 2026

It was the mid 1990s and London’s Great Osmond Street Hospital was losing a troubling number of young cardiac patients following complex heart surgery.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026

Both sides have struggled with injuries throughout this season, and Hearts will be without key defender Craig Halkett and influential midfielder Marc Leonard after both players had surgery on Achilles injuries.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

My knee was aching, likely a callback to surgery at 16 to repair torn ligaments.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

When I was recovering from the surgery in the hospital, she visited me with a bouquet of flowers and a plastic container filled with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day