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
The intensive care doctor who treated the boy told detectives the child arrived at the hospital in cardiac arrest, with a traumatic brain injury, including bleeding on the brain, bleeding of the eyes and a broken left leg, the report states.
—David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 17 Sep. 2025
He was admitted straight into intensive care and placed into an induced coma.
—Ben Church, CNN Money, 16 Sep. 2025
In Flint, where a cash aid program for moms and babies first began, a new body of research points to some promising outcomes — a drastic drop in evictions and fewer preterm births and neonatal intensive care unit admissions.
—Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Sophia's mother, Amy Forchas, a critical pediatric critical care nurse, was working in the intensive care unit of the hospital where her daughter was rushed, according to a GoFundMe campaign.
—Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
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David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 17 Sep. 2025
He was admitted straight into intensive care and placed into an induced coma.
—Ben Church, CNN Money, 16 Sep. 2025
In Flint, where a cash aid program for moms and babies first began, a new body of research points to some promising outcomes — a drastic drop in evictions and fewer preterm births and neonatal intensive care unit admissions.
—Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Sophia's mother, Amy Forchas, a critical pediatric critical care nurse, was working in the intensive care unit of the hospital where her daughter was rushed, according to a GoFundMe campaign.
—Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
Cite this Entry
“Intensive care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive%20care. Accessed 21 Sep. 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
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