critical care

noun

1

: the monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients : intensive care

Critical care involves the use of life-sustaining, high-technology medicine catering to a patient population that extends to both extremes of age. In adult ICUs, the average age is increasing and is now commonly well over 60 years.

—Simon Finfer and Jean-Louis Vincent

2

: a designated area of a hospital providing critical care : intensive care unit

The death toll rose from six to at least 12, with scores of people needing hospital treatment and some in critical care.

—Heather Brooke

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

critical-care nursing

a critical-care bed

see also critical care unit

Examples of critical care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But a new study involving millions of people in Sweden shows women and men are almost equally as likely to be diagnosed with autism by adulthood—suggesting younger girls may be underdiagnosed and possibly missing out on critical care. —Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 4 Feb. 2026

The nurses interviewed by AP said they felt intimidated by ICE's presence in the critical care unit and had even been told to avoid a certain bathroom to minimize encounters with officers. —CBS News, 2 Feb. 2026

The nurses interviewed by AP said they felt intimidated by ICE’s presence in the critical care unit and had even been told to avoid a certain bathroom to minimize encounters with officers. —Jack Brook, Los Angeles Times, 31 Jan. 2026

Emily Berkman is a bioethicist and critical care pediatrician in Washington. —Amy Caruso Brown, STAT, 30 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for critical care

• concessionaire
• abwehr
• affair
• affaire
• airfare
• altair
• armchair
• aware
• beware
• bugbear
• carfare
• childcare

Kids Definition

critical care

noun

: intensive care