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

My husband needed surgery that year and we weren’t sure if he could keep working.

From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026

Last year, when Ohtani was returning from a second career Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers eased him into pitching slowly, starting with one inning and then adding an inning each appearance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Grace has recently had a laparoscopy - keyhole surgery - to remove her endometriosis.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

Before surgery, every patient received a dental examination.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

But a small stroke after the last one made further surgery impossible, and many days, making up a tray for Tante Bep, I carried one upstairs to Mama also.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

They’d go on to be major league pitchers after each endured arm surgeries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Though visits with a primary care doctor are covered by a DPC fee, patients still need insurance, on top of that annual fee, for medication, hospital stays, specialist visits, surgeries, and emergencies.

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

Skubal and Snell have undergone surgeries to remove loose bodies from their pitching elbows.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

After three replacement surgeries, she said, "I assumed my difficulty walking was simply an unfortunate and rather ironic part of the recovery process."

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

He had to stay in the hospital, because he needed some surgeries that would allow him to breathe and swallow.

From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio