triage

American  

[tree-ahzh] / triˈɑʒ /

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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of triage

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

Explanation

Grouping patients based on the severity of their injuries and the likelihood of their survival is called triage. In a triage situation, urgent cases are seen by doctors first, and non-life-threatening emergencies go last. You can also apply the sorting and prioritizing of triage to more general situations. If you're overwhelmed with homework, you can perform triage by organizing it into subjects and prioritizing assignments based on their due dates. The word triage comes from the French word trier meaning to sort. Although the medical sense is now the most common, it wasn't used that way until World War One.

Example Sentences

Local residents were “circling the school, trying to protect the students. It is like I am doing emotional triage on some type of battlefield, right here in my own city,” she explained.

From Salon • Apr. 6, 2026

"We cannot possibly conserve everything, so we have to triage and decide how to allocate limited resources towards what we think are the highest priorities," Chan said.

From Science Daily • Mar. 9, 2026

She said the "triage service was frequently understaffed" and at Bedford around a quarter of calls went unanswered or abandoned by the caller due to wait times.

From BBC • Jan. 23, 2026

“It was like triage in a war zone, except it was on Bondi Beach,” Ostrovsky said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 15, 2025

The ICU with the lingering burns and grievously wounded patients got to be too difficult, and she asked to be transferred back to the ER to do triage.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge