surgeon general
noun
plural surgeons general
: the chief medical officer of a branch of the armed services or of a public health service
Examples of surgeon general in a Sentence
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Last year, Joseph Ladapo, whom DeSantis had appointed as Florida’s surgeon general in 2021, appeared to compare childhood vaccine schedules to medical experiments conducted by the Nazis in concentration camps.
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Alexander Nazaryan, New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2026
Ralph Abraham, a former Louisiana surgeon general who was sworn in as the CDC’s principal deputy director last month, said the exact chain of transmission needs to be determined before the status is official.
—Joseph Choi, The Hill, 20 Jan. 2026
The United States’ year without a surgeon general raises questions about how necessary the role really is.
—Rina Raphael, The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2026
After a landmark 1964 report from the US surgeon general linking cigarettes to lung cancer, smoking rates steadily fell from 42 percent to below 12 percent.
—Karen Martin, Arkansas Online, 18 Jan. 2026
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Alexander Nazaryan, New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2026
Ralph Abraham, a former Louisiana surgeon general who was sworn in as the CDC’s principal deputy director last month, said the exact chain of transmission needs to be determined before the status is official.
—Joseph Choi, The Hill, 20 Jan. 2026
The United States’ year without a surgeon general raises questions about how necessary the role really is.
—Rina Raphael, The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2026
After a landmark 1964 report from the US surgeon general linking cigarettes to lung cancer, smoking rates steadily fell from 42 percent to below 12 percent.
—Karen Martin, Arkansas Online, 18 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for surgeon general
Cite this Entry
“Surgeon general.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surgeon%20general. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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