Library / English Dictionary

DOCTOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Children take the roles of physician or patient or nurse and pretend they are at the physician's office

Example:

the children explored each other's bodies by playing the game of doctor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("doctor" is a kind of...):

child's play; play (activity by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A licensed medical practitioner

Example:

I felt so bad I went to see my doctor

Synonyms:

doc; doctor; Dr.; MD; medico; physician

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("doctor" is a kind of...):

medical man; medical practitioner (someone who practices medicine)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "doctor"):

vet; veterinarian; veterinary; veterinary surgeon (a doctor who practices veterinary medicine)

operating surgeon; sawbones; surgeon (a physician who specializes in surgery)

medical specialist; specialist (practices one branch of medicine)

quack (an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice)

primary care physician (the physician who provides primary care)

houseman; intern; interne; medical intern (an advanced student or graduate in medicine gaining supervised practical experience ('houseman' is a British term))

house physician; resident; resident physician (a physician (especially an intern) who lives in a hospital and cares for hospitalized patients under the supervision of the medical staff of the hospital)

hakeem; hakim (a Muslim physician)

general practitioner; GP (a physician who is not a specialist but treats all illnesses)

gastroenterologist (a physician who specializes in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract)

extern; medical extern (a nonresident doctor or medical student; connected with a hospital but not living there)

angiologist (a physician who specializes in angiology)

allergist (a physician skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies)

abortionist (a person (who should be a doctor) who terminates pregnancies)

Instance hyponyms:

Edward Jenner; Jenner (English physician who pioneered vaccination; Jenner inoculated people with small amounts of cowpox to prevent them from getting smallpox (1749-1823))

Harry F. Klinefelter; Harry Fitch Kleinfelter; Klinefelter (United States physician who first described the XXY-syndrome (born in 1912))

Clemence Sophia Harned Lozier; Lozier (United States physician who in 1863 founded a medical school for women (1813-1888))

Manson; Sir Patrick Manson (Scottish physician who discovered that elephantiasis is spread by mosquitos and suggested that mosquitos also spread malaria (1844-1922))

Franz Anton Mesmer; Friedrich Anton Mesmer; Mesmer (Austrian physician who tried to treat diseases with a form of hypnotism (1734-1815))

Paracelsus; Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus; Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (Swiss physician who introduced treatments of particular illnesses based on his observation and experience; he saw illness as having an external cause (rather than an imbalance of humors) and replaced traditional remedies with chemical remedies (1493-1541))

Peter Mark Roget; Roget (English physician who in retirement compiled a well-known thesaurus (1779-1869))

Ross; Sir Ronald Ross (British physician who discovered that mosquitos transmit malaria (1857-1932))

Benjamin Rush; Rush (physician and American Revolutionary leader; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1745-1813))

Albert Schweitzer; Schweitzer (French philosopher and physician and organist who spent most of his life as a medical missionary in Gabon (1875-1965))

Anna Howard Shaw; Shaw (United States physician and suffragist (1847-1919))

Simpson; Sir James Young Simpson (Scottish obstetrician and surgeon who pioneered in the use of ether and discovered the anesthetic effects of chloroform (1811-1870))

English Hippocrates; Sydenham; Thomas Sydenham (English physician (1624-1689))

E. A. von Willebrand; Erik Adolf von Willebrand; Erik von Willebrand; von Willebrand; Willebrand (Finnish physician who first described vascular hemophilia (1870-1949))

Abul-Walid Mohammed ibn-Ahmad Ibn-Mohammed ibn-Roshd; Averroes; ibn-Roshd (Arabian philosopher born in Spain; wrote detailed commentaries on Aristotle that were admired by the Schoolmen (1126-1198))

Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina; Avicenna; ibn-Sina (Persian physician and influential philosopher; his interpretation of Aristotle influenced St. Thomas Aquinas; writings on medicine were important for almost 500 years (980-1037))

Barany; Robert Barany (Austrian physician who developed a rotational method for testing the middle ear (1876-1936))

Bartholin; Caspar Bartholin (Danish physician who discovered Bartholin's gland (1585-1629))

Bruce; David Bruce; Sir David Bruce (Australian physician and bacteriologist who described the bacterium that causes undulant fever or brucellosis (1855-1931))

Burrill Bernard Crohn; Crohn (United States physician who specialized in diseases of the intestines; he was the first to describe regional ileitis which is now known as Crohn's disease (1884-1983))

Down; John L. H. Down (English physician who first described Down's syndrome (1828-1896))

Christiaan Eijkman; Eijkman (Dutch physician who discovered that beriberi is caused by a nutritional deficiency (1858-1930))

Etienne-Louis Arthur Fallot; Fallot (French physician who described cardiac anomalies including Fallot's tetralogy (1850-1911))

Gilbert; William Gilbert (English court physician noted for his studies of terrestrial magnetism (1540-1603))

Harvey; William Harvey (English physician and scientist who described the circulation of the blood; he later proposed that all animals originate from an ovum produced by the female of the species (1578-1657))

Hodgkin; Thomas Hodgkin (English physician who first described Hodgkin's disease (1798-1866))

George Huntington; Huntington (United States physician who first described Huntington's chorea)

Aletta Jacobs; Jacobs (Dutch physician who opened the first birth control clinic in the world in Amsterdam (1854-1929))

Holonyms ("doctor" is a member of...):

doctor-patient relation (the responsibility of a physician to act in the best interests of the patient)

Derivation:

doctor (give medical treatment to)

doctorial (of or relating to a doctor or doctorate)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person who holds Ph.D. degree (or the equivalent) from an academic institution

Example:

she is a doctor of philosophy in physics

Synonyms:

doctor; Dr.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("doctor" is a kind of...):

bookman; scholar; scholarly person; student (a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines)

Derivation:

doctoral; doctorial (of or relating to a doctor or doctorate)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(Roman Catholic Church) a title conferred on 33 saints who distinguished themselves through the orthodoxy of their theological teaching

Example:

the Doctors of the Church greatly influenced Christian thought down to the late Middle Ages

Synonyms:

Doctor; Doctor of the Church

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Doctor" is a kind of...):

theologian; theologiser; theologist; theologizer (someone who is learned in theology or who speculates about theology)

Domain category:

Church of Rome; Roman Catholic; Roman Catholic Church; Roman Church; Western Church (the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy)

Instance hyponyms:

John Chrysostom; St. John Chrysostom ((Roman Catholic Church) a Church Father who was a great preacher and bishop of Constantinople; a saint and Doctor of the Church (347-407))

Eusebius Hieronymus; Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Hieronymus; Jerome; Saint Jerome; St. Jerome ((Roman Catholic Church) one of the great Fathers of the early Christian Church whose major work was his translation of the Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek into Latin (which became the Vulgate); a saint and Doctor of the Church (347-420))

Irenaeus; Saint Irenaeus; St. Irenaeus (Greek theologian who was bishop of Lyons and an antiheretical writer; a saint and Doctor of the Church (circa 130-200))

Gregory; Gregory Nazianzen; Gregory of Nazianzen; St. Gregory of Nazianzen ((Roman Catholic Church) a church father known for his constant fight against perceived heresies; a saint and Doctor of the Church (329-391))

Gregory; Gregory I; Gregory the Great; Saint Gregory I; St. Gregory I ((Roman Catholic Church) an Italian pope distinguished for his spiritual and temporal leadership; a saint and Doctor of the Church (540?-604))

Baeda; Beda; Bede; Saint Baeda; Saint Beda; Saint Bede; St. Baeda; St. Beda; St. Bede; the Venerable Bede ((Roman Catholic Church) English monk and scholar (672-735))

Basil; Basil of Caesarea; Basil the Great; St. Basil; St. Basil the Great ((Roman Catholic Church) the bishop of Caesarea who defended the Roman Catholic Church against the heresies of the 4th century; a saint and Doctor of the Church (329-379))

Augustine; Augustine of Hippo; Saint Augustine; St. Augustine ((Roman Catholic Church) one of the great Fathers of the early Christian church; after a dramatic conversion to Christianity he became bishop of Hippo Regius in North Africa; St. Augustine emphasized man's need for grace (354-430))

Athanasius; Athanasius the Great; Saint Athanasius; St. Athanasius ((Roman Catholic Church) Greek patriarch of Alexandria who championed Christian orthodoxy against Arianism; a church father, saint, and Doctor of the Church (293-373))

Aquinas; Saint Thomas; Saint Thomas Aquinas; St. Thomas; St. Thomas Aquinas; Thomas Aquinas ((Roman Catholic Church) Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church who is remembered for his attempt to reconcile faith and reason in a comprehensive theology; presented philosophical proofs of the existence of God (1225-1274))

Ambrose; Saint Ambrose; St. Ambrose ((Roman Catholic Church) Roman priest who became bishop of Milan; the first Church Father born and raised in the Christian faith; composer of hymns; imposed orthodoxy on the early Christian church and built up its secular power; a saint and Doctor of the Church (340?-397))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give medical treatment to

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "doctor" is one way to...):

care for; treat (provide treatment for)

Domain category:

medicine; practice of medicine (the learned profession that is mastered by graduate training in a medical school and that is devoted to preventing or alleviating or curing diseases and injuries)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "doctor"):

vet (provide veterinary care for)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

doctor (a licensed medical practitioner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken

Example:

Repair my shoes please

Synonyms:

bushel; doctor; fix; furbish up; mend; repair; restore; touch on

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "doctor" is one way to...):

ameliorate; amend; better; improve; meliorate (to make better)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "doctor"):

darn (repair by sewing)

heel; reheel (put a new heel on)

revamp; vamp (provide (a shoe) with a new vamp)

resole; sole (put a new sole on)

patch; patch up (mend by putting a patch on)

trouble-shoot; troubleshoot (solve problems)

point; repoint (repair the joints of bricks)

cobble (repair or mend)

patch; piece (repair by adding pieces)

fill (plug with a substance)

fiddle; tinker (try to fix or mend)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Alter and make impure, as with the intention to deceive

Example:

Sophisticate rose water with geraniol

Synonyms:

doctor; doctor up; sophisticate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "doctor" is one way to...):

adulterate; debase; dilute; load; stretch (corrupt, debase, or make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance; often by replacing valuable ingredients with inferior ones)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

These pain relievers are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a doctor, but are frequently misused because they also produce euphoria.

(Designing more effective opioids, NIH)

Doctors use skin and blood tests to diagnose allergies.

(Allergy, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Your doctor will diagnose anemia with a physical exam and blood tests.

(Anemia, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

A doctor who specializes in giving drugs or other agents to prevent or relieve pain during surgery or other procedures being done in the hospital.

(Anesthesiologist, NCI Dictionary)

The type of anesthesia your doctor chooses depends on many factors.

(Anesthesia, NIH)

The authors suggest that testing for free fatty acids may help doctors interpret glucose test results in children, decreasing the number of children who need to be re-tested for high blood sugar.

(Researchers identify method to verify if children fasted before medical testing, National Institutes of Health)

Researchers have detected evidence suggesting Alzheimer's in older patients who had no symptoms of the disease by using technology similar to what is found in many eye doctors' offices.

(Predicting Alzheimer's Disease May Be Possible Using Eye Exam, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But doctors don’t have a way to reliably predict which tumors will progress and which are unlikely to cause problems.

(Biomarker Signatures of Prostate Cancer, NIH)

Doctors usually are unable to diagnose cancer of the pancreas until it is too late.

(New Test May Detect Pancreatic Cancer Early, VOA News)

Those classified as having asthma had been diagnosed at two or more doctor's appointments and had also received a prescription, such as an inhaler.

(Obesity May Be to Blame for Quarter of Asthma Cases in Children, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)