triage

[tree-ahzh]

noun

1. the process of sorting victims, as of a battle or disaster, to determine medical priority in order to increase the number of survivors.

2. the determination of priorities for action.

   She began her workday with a triage of emails.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or performing the task of triage.

   a triage officer.

verb (used with object)

triaged, triaging 

1. to act on or in by triage.

   to triage a crisis.

triage

/ ˌtriːˈɑːʒ, ˈtraɪ-, ˈtriːˌɑːʒ /

noun

1. (in a hospital) the principle or practice of sorting emergency patients into categories of priority for treatment

2. the principle or practice of sorting casualties in battle or disaster into categories of priority for treatment

3. the principle or practice of allocating limited resources, as of food or foreign aid, on a basis of expediency rather than according to moral principles or the needs of the recipients

Word History and Origins

Origin of triage¹

First recorded in 1925–30; from French: “a sorting,” from tri(er) “to sort” ( try ) + -age -age

Word History and Origins

Origin of triage¹

C18 (in the sense: sorting (goods) according to quality): from French; see _try , _-age

Example Sentences

Officials set up triage protocols, a patient treatment area and an ambulance loading zone, according to the social media post.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

This is Pamplona without the need for bulls and a triage nurse, a kinder tradition that precedes Hemingway by a century, one he saw as pure joy.

Read more on Salon

But she’s grateful to have a crisis to triage.

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During a shutdown, agencies must identify and keep essential employees on the job, forcing a triage that reveals the government’s assessment of what it needs to function.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Americans were in triage mode, as a senior administration official put it.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal