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

Patients often end up being treated by more than one doctor and have to try out a mix of treatments, which can be as simple as taking ibuprofen or as complex as surgery.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

But before we got into politics, we were both physicians in internal medicine and cardiothoracic surgery, respectively.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

Manganiello revealed he’s since had reconstructive surgery on his digestive tract and is seemingly cured.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

WHO says the care should focus on healthy eating and exercise, not medicine or surgery, although they do not oppose drug trials.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

We go to family parties not to bask in each other's presence but to whisper among ourselves about tacky dresses, botched plastic surgery, and disastrous haircuts and highlights.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Guilfoyle’s attorney, Binnall, said: “Ambassador Guilfoyle will never apologize for offering to help shed light on a case in which 1,000 children underwent unnecessary, invasive, and debilitating surgeries at that man’s hands.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Cartilage samples collected during knee replacement surgeries responded to the treatment by beginning to produce new, functional cartilage.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Hospitals, GP surgeries, care homes and other healthcare facilities are also identified as high risk locations.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

The baby was born on Aug. 12, and Gilkar and Ahmed agreed to several planned surgeries shortly afterward.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Worse than surgeries, or infections, or waking up on a bad morning barely able to breathe.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott