general practitioner

noun

: a physician or veterinarian whose practice is not limited to a specialty

broadly : generalist

Examples of general practitioner in a Sentence

Our family doctor is a general practitioner.

Recent Examples on the Web

Doyle attended medical school in Edinburgh and worked as a ship’s physician and general practitioner in England. —René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 May 2026

My general practitioner immediately referred me to the team’s rheumatologist and a couple of days later, I was diagnosed with lupus. —Holly Carter, PEOPLE, 15 Apr. 2026

Many of the new prescriptions have been written by general practitioners, rather than weight-loss specialists. —Meg Tirrell, CNN Money, 19 Mar. 2026

Narges, a general practitioner in her thirties, fashioned a tourniquet from a head scarf to save the woman’s leg from a bullet wound. —Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 11 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1810, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for general practitioner

• commissioner
• conditioner
• parishioner
• petitioner
• positioner
• missioner

Kids Definition

general practitioner

noun

: a physician or veterinarian whose practice is not limited to a specialty

Medical Definition

general practitioner

noun

: a physician or veterinarian whose practice is not limited to a specialty

Dr. Thomas, Sr., could carry virtually the full armamentarium of the medicine of his day in a single black bag, and very nearly all of medical knowledge in his head. Today the general practitioner is a vanishing breed, and specialists cannot use their time effectively traveling from patient to patient.

—John Steele Gordon, American Heritage

The primary-care doctor is gaining new respect in Washington. Battles may be breaking out left and right over the various health-care bills emerging from Congress, but reformers on both sides agree that general practitioners should be given a central role in uniting the fragmented U.S. medical system.

—Catherine Arnst, Business Week