# medical

Pronunciation: say "MED-i-kuhl" /ˈmɛdɪkl̩/

## Adjective

1. Relating to medicine, to the treatment of illness and injury, or to the state of a person's health.
   - Simple: About medicine, doctors, and people's health.
   - _He spent years studying before earning his medical degree._
   - _The hospital invested heavily in new medical equipment last year._
2. Intended to produce a healing or therapeutic effect; medicinal.
   - Simple: Meant to treat illness or injury, or relieve symptoms.
   - _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._
3. Requiring treatment by a doctor or other health professional.
   - Simple: Needing treatment from a doctor or another 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._
5. Involving treatment with drugs or other methods rather than surgery.
   - Simple: Using medicine and other care, not an operation.
   - _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._

## Noun

4. An examination of a person's health, typically to assess physical fitness or readiness. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A check by a doctor to see if someone is healthy.
   - _Every new recruit must complete a medical before training starts._
   - _Her insurance application required a medical at an approved clinic._

## Noun

6. A person who practices medicine; a doctor. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A doctor, or someone else trained to practice medicine.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/medical (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).