medical
Pluralmedicals
- 1Relating to medicine, to the treatment of illness and injury, or to the state of a person's health.
He spent years studying before earning his medical degree.
The hospital invested heavily in new medical equipment last year.
UsageUsually used before a noun: medical school, medical care, a medical student (one who studies medicine).
- 2Intended to produce a healing or therapeutic effect; medicinal.
Her doctor suggested trying medical cannabis to ease the pain from her old back injury.
The salve was prepared for medical use against skin infections.
UsageMostly in set phrases: medical cannabis, for medical use; for plants and remedies, medicinal is more usual.
Similarmedicinal, therapeutic, curative
- 3Requiring treatment by a doctor or other health professional.
Staff judged the situation to be medical and called an ambulance.
What seemed like simple exhaustion turned out to be a real medical problem.
UsageMost often in a medical emergency, a medical problem or a medical condition.
Less common meanings
- 4An examination of a person's health, typically to assess physical fitness or readiness.
Every new recruit must complete a medical before training starts.
Her insurance application required a medical at an approved clinic.
UsageUsually have, pass, complete or undergo a medical, often before a job starts.
Similarphysical, checkup, examination, exam
Note
It is a routine step before a job or a football transfer; Ángel di María completed one before joining Manchester United in 2014. Some jobs demand it on a schedule: UK train drivers must have one every three years until their mid-fifties, and every year after that.
- 5Involving treatment with drugs or other methods rather than surgery.
Rather than operate right away, the doctors chose medical treatment, hoping the drugs alone would clear the infection.
Specialists debated whether the case called for a medical or a surgical solution.
UsageUsually set against surgical: medical or surgical treatment, a medical ward.
Note
Hospitals draw a working line with this sense. A medical ward treats patients without operating, and a surgical ward is for patients who are having, or may need, an operation. The contrast can catch readers off guard, since in this sense medical excludes a large part of what medicine does.
- 6A person who practices medicine; a doctor.
We medicals have a better way than that. When we dislike a friend of ours, we dissect him.
1884, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Body SnatcherNote
Doctors once used it of themselves. In Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher (1884), a character jokes darkly on behalf of his profession: "We medicals have a better way than that." The word now belongs to period writing, so it is safest kept for historical flavor. In current English the noun usually means the health examination, not the person who carries it out.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Medical formerly meant a medical practitioner. en.wiktionary.org
- Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Body Snatcher, first published in 1884. en.wikipedia.org
- A character, Fettes, makes the quoted dark joke about medical practitioners. gutenberg.org
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Latin medicus led through Medieval Latin medicālis to French médical, from which English borrowed it. Old English called a physician lǣċe, a relative of Icelandic læknir ("doctor"); physician and doctor later replaced it.