intensive care
noun
1
: the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
Many of the sickest patients need intensive care, even to the point of being connected to a mechanical respirator.—
Lawrence K. Altman
Lawrence K. Altman2
: a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit
heart patients in intensive care
… short of breath and feverish, doctors isolated him in intensive care.—Elisabeth Rosenthal
—often hyphenated when used before another nounElisabeth Rosenthalan intensive-care nurse
Examples of intensive care in a Sentence
Her condition will require intensive care.
Recent Examples on the Web
While writing this, Alex is recovering from a respiratory infection in the pediatric intensive care unit.
—Elizabeth Broden, Hartford Courant, 17 Feb. 2025
He was treated on the racecourse before being airlifted to the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 16 Feb. 2025
In the early 2000s a group of physicians in the Netherlands began to notice a worrisome pattern in the sickest patients in their intensive care units.
—Maryn McKenna, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2025
Insofar as adverse events were concerned, at 90 days post-surgery, 3.6% of patients had experienced an adverse event such as unplanned readmission, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), or an unplanned return to the operating theater.
—New Atlas, 12 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for intensive care 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Elizabeth Broden, Hartford Courant, 17 Feb. 2025
He was treated on the racecourse before being airlifted to the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital.
—Issy Ronald, CNN, 16 Feb. 2025
In the early 2000s a group of physicians in the Netherlands began to notice a worrisome pattern in the sickest patients in their intensive care units.
—Maryn McKenna, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2025
Insofar as adverse events were concerned, at 90 days post-surgery, 3.6% of patients had experienced an adverse event such as unplanned readmission, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), or an unplanned return to the operating theater.
—New Atlas, 12 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for intensive care
Dictionary Entries Near intensive care
Cite this Entry
“Intensive care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive%20care. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
intensive care
1 of 2 noun1
: the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
She required intensive care and survived without sequelae.—The Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association2
: a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit
heart patients in intensive care
a patient isolated in intensive care
He spent several days in intensive care before recovering from the overdose.—Jerome Groopman
Jerome Groopmanintensive care
2 of 2 adjective
variants
also intensive-care
: providing or concerned with continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
intensive care medicine
an intensive-care nurse
also
: receiving medical care in an intensive care unit
intensive care patients
compare acute care, chronic care
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share