paramedic

noun para·med·ic \ ˌper-ə-ˈme-dik , ˌpa-rə- \

variants: or less commonly paramedical play \ˌper-ə-ˈme-di-kəl, ˌpa-rə-\

Definition of paramedic

1 : a person who works in a health field in an auxiliary capacity to a physician (as by giving injections and taking X-rays)

2 : a specially trained medical technician licensed to provide a wide range of emergency services (such as defibrillation and the intravenous administration of drugs) before or during transportation to a hospital — compare emt

See paramedic defined for English-language learners

See paramedic defined for kids

Examples of paramedic in a Sentence

She's training to be a paramedic.

Recent Examples of paramedic from the Web

Records show paramedics were arriving on the scene - not leaving for the scene - 12 to 14 minutes later, Africk said.

— bob warren, NOLA.com, "16-year-old shot in mouth as teens played with gun: report," 18 Oct. 2017
London Ambulance said they were called to an incident at 8.20 a.m. local time (3.20 a.m. ET) and that paramedics were present.

— geoffrey smith, Fortune, "Following CIA Anger, Harvard Rescinds Chelsea Manning ‘Fellowship’ Offer," 15 Sep. 2017
Clark said police called paramedics, hoping that somehow the children were still alive.

— clifford ward, Naperville Sun, "Crime scene photos too much to bear for Naperville woman charged in slaying of 2 kids," 14 Sep. 2017
Franciscan Health offers paramedic training program The Franciscan Health Crown Point Emergency Medical Services Academy is accepting applications until Wednesday for its next paramedic training program, which will begin in January.

— Post-Tribune, "Community calendar," 27 Oct. 2017
This new boyfriend shot her mother one summer while Holliday and her brother were away, leaving her in the bathtub for six hours before calling paramedics.

— the editors, Cosmopolitan, "Tess Holliday, Face of a Self-Love Movement, Opens Up About Parenting After Being Abused," 16 Oct. 2017
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says people can get Narcan at pharmacies or from paramedics, but his officers won't carry it.

— john tozzi and jared s. hopkins, chicagotribune.com, "Surviving an opioid overdose may soon depend on where you live," 14 Sep. 2017
The Florida Highway Patrol had also initially been called out to the scene but never responded because paramedics and deputies believed Ramirez had suffered a medical episode.

— jessica de leon, miamiherald, "Did he die on the road from illness? Or was he hit by a car? Cops are stumped," 1 Nov. 2017
At some point, the paramedics arrived and administered Narcan again.

— sarah brookbank, Cincinnati.com, "Another death from heroin, this time the family affected is mine," 19 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'paramedic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The history of paramedic

In ground warfare, wounded troops must usually be transported from the front lines back to field hospitals, and trained paramedical personnel—that is, nondoctors, usually known as medics or corpsmen—were first widely used in such situations. It took many decades for the wartime model to be applied effectively to ordinary peacetime medicine. With advances in medical technology (such as defibrillators, for restarting a heart after a heart attack), paramedics became an essential part of emergency medicine, and today hundreds of thousands of people owe their lives to paramedics. Paraprofessionals who work only in hospitals and clinics usually go by other titles.

First Known Use of paramedic

1967

PARAMEDIC Defined for English Language Learners

paramedic

noun

Definition of paramedic for English Language Learners

: a person whose job is to provide emergency medical care to sick or injured people who are being taken to a hospital

PARAMEDIC Defined for Kids

paramedic

noun para·med·ic \ ˌper-ə-ˈme-dik \

Definition of paramedic for Students

: a person specially trained to care for a patient before or during the trip to a hospital

Medical Dictionary

paramedic

noun para·med·ic \ ˌpar-ə-ˈmed-ik \

variants: also paramedical play \-i-kəl\

medical Definition of paramedic

1 : a person who works in a health field in an auxiliary capacity to a physician (as by giving injections and taking X-rays)

2 : a specially trained medical technician certified to provide a wide range of emergency medical services (as defibrillation and the intravenous administration of drugs) before or during transport to the hospital — compare emt