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
Simon Finfer and Jean-Louis Vincent2
: 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 nounHeather Brookecritical-care nursing
a critical-care bed
see also critical care unit
Examples of critical care in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Why Rural Hospitals Need New Tools Distance changes everything for critical care.
—Matt Emma, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
From interventional cardiology to neurosurgery, encompassing oncology, orthopedic surgery, urology, pediatrics and critical care, our training environments cover the entire cycle of disease — and the entire cycle of learning.
—Dr. Victor Raúl Castillo Mantilla, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2025
Many cases required evaluation at a health care facility, including admission to critical care.
—Christina Hall, Freep.com, 28 Oct. 2025
Her mother, a pediatric critical care nurse, was working her shift at Hennepin County Medical Center, where several of the wounded were taken, before even knowing her children’s school was involved.
—Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for critical care
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Matt Emma, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
From interventional cardiology to neurosurgery, encompassing oncology, orthopedic surgery, urology, pediatrics and critical care, our training environments cover the entire cycle of disease — and the entire cycle of learning.
—Dr. Victor Raúl Castillo Mantilla, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2025
Many cases required evaluation at a health care facility, including admission to critical care.
—Christina Hall, Freep.com, 28 Oct. 2025
Her mother, a pediatric critical care nurse, was working her shift at Hennepin County Medical Center, where several of the wounded were taken, before even knowing her children’s school was involved.
—Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for critical care
Cite this Entry
“Critical care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/critical%20care. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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