physician assistant

noun

: a person certified to provide basic medical services usually under the supervision of a licensed physician

called also PA, physician's assistant

Examples of physician assistant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Physician assistant treated Lindsay Clancy's cuts The first prosecution witness called Wednesday was Eitan Negri, who was working as a physician assistant at Brigham & Women's Hospital in 2023. — Kristina Rex, CBS News, 5 Aug. 2026

Today, the 34-year-old Washington physician assistant runs a thriving vintage resale business, The Leather Doc, all while continuing to work full-time in advanced heart failure and heart transplant medicine. — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 27 July 2026

Kaiser’s expert argued that the physician assistant did an appropriate exam and that his low suspicion of breast cancer was reasonable. — Melody Petersen, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2026

Payton began working with North Central on the physician assistant program after assuming his current job in 2019. — Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 17 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1958, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for physician assistant

• coexistent
• equidistant
• inconsistent
• nonexistent
• preexistent
• consistent
• existent
• insistent
• persistent
• resistant
• subsistent
• distant

Medical Definition

physician assistant

noun

physician as·​sis·​tant

-ə-ˈsis-tənt

variants also physician's assistant

: a specially trained person who is certified to provide basic medical services (as the diagnosis and treatment of common ailments) usually under the supervision of a licensed physician

called also PA