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

Babies receiving critical care in Gaza risk becoming much sicker or even dying in the coming days as the enclave runs out of fuel and hospitals are forced to turn off incubators, doctors warn. —Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 11 July 2025

The critical care recruitment and retention stipends were put in place in 2018 and during the COVID pandemic in response to nurse and staff shortages in critical areas, according to Michael Kirk, spokesman for UConn Health. —Livi Stanford, Hartford Courant, 28 June 2025

These solutions help clinicians manage critical care and reduce complications. —Joe Cornell, Forbes.com, 9 June 2025

Georgia's law has led to stories of women in medical peril as doctors try to toe a line between following the letter of the law and delivering critical care. —Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 15 May 2025

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