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

An off-duty critical care doctor, lifeguards, police and council personnel helped to stabilized Stewart on the beach, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. — Latoya Gayle, PEOPLE, 15 June 2026

Before the development of effective antivenoms and modern critical care, bites from snakes with comparable venom profiles had much graver prognoses. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026

Part of the Washington County community’s first significant wave of youth lacrosse players and a 2010 graduate of its high school, the critical care paramedic apprenticed as an assistant at his alma mater and is now the team’s sixth-year head coach. — Tris Wykes, Twin Cities, 11 June 2026

Charles Bizilj, a former medical director of emergency and critical care at Johnson Memorial Hospital, was accompanying the boy at the time. — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 29 May 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