nurse practitioner

noun

: a registered nurse who is qualified through advanced training to assume some of the duties and responsibilities formerly assumed only by a physician

—abbreviation NP

Examples of nurse practitioner in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Tigist Desta, one of the nurse practitioners, spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out the vaccination status of a child who had just arrived from Ethiopia, for instance. —Helen Ouyang, The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2025

Types of health care providers may include people like physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and physician assistants. —Jacqueline Howard, CNN Money, 15 Oct. 2025

Or a nurse practitioner at a med spa? —Jolene Edgar, Allure, 15 Oct. 2025

The union also expressed concern that nurses have been missing meals and breaks due to short staffing, and that nurse practitioners and physician assistants have been seeing appointment slots be double- or triple-booked, Mason said. —Caelyn Pender, Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nurse practitioner

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

Medical Definition

nurse practitioner

noun

: a registered nurse who through advanced training is qualified to assume some of the duties and responsibilities formerly assumed only by a physician

—abbreviation NP

called also nurse clinician