intensive care
noun
1
: the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
Many of the sickest patients need intensive care, even to the point of being connected to a mechanical respirator.—
Lawrence K. Altman
Lawrence K. Altman2
: a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit
heart patients in intensive care
… short of breath and feverish, doctors isolated him in intensive care.—Elisabeth Rosenthal
—often hyphenated when used before another nounElisabeth Rosenthalan intensive-care nurse
Examples of intensive care in a Sentence
Her condition will require intensive care.
Recent Examples on the Web
Rapper Snoop Dogg’s daughter, Cori Broadus, has finally welcomed her new baby home, after the infant spent 10 months in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit following her birth at 25 weeks.
—Theresa Braine, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026
Cook County officials said intensive care unit admissions for flu nearly doubled in the last week.
—Victor Jacobo, CBS News, 7 Jan. 2026
As Britton recovered from the emergency surgery, her daughter was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Akron Children's Hospital.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
The project is partly intended to alleviate backups in the hospital’s emergency department due to a lack of intensive care unit beds, according to the hospital’s application for the project.
—Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
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Theresa Braine, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026
Cook County officials said intensive care unit admissions for flu nearly doubled in the last week.
—Victor Jacobo, CBS News, 7 Jan. 2026
As Britton recovered from the emergency surgery, her daughter was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Akron Children's Hospital.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
The project is partly intended to alleviate backups in the hospital’s emergency department due to a lack of intensive care unit beds, according to the hospital’s application for the project.
—Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for intensive care
Cite this Entry
“Intensive care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive%20care. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
intensive care
1 of 2 noun1
: the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
She required intensive care and survived without sequelae.—The Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association2
: a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit
heart patients in intensive care
a patient isolated in intensive care
He spent several days in intensive care before recovering from the overdose.—Jerome Groopman
Jerome Groopmanintensive care
2 of 2 adjective
variants
also intensive-care
: providing or concerned with continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services
intensive care medicine
an intensive-care nurse
also
: receiving medical care in an intensive care unit
intensive care patients
compare acute care, chronic care
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