Stethoscope

//ˈstɛθəskəʊp// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A medical instrument used for listening to sounds produced within the body.
  2. 2
    a medical instrument for listening to the sounds generated inside the body wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To auscultate, or examine, with a stethoscope. transitive

    "you wish me to submit to be stethoscoped; if so, you shall be gratified, although the prospect of undergoing that, or any other operation at Mr. Pigwidgeon's hands, is not the most agreeable"

Synonyms

All synonyms
amplifierinstrumentsyringe

Example

More examples

"The doctor placed a stethoscope on the patient's chest."

Etymology

Borrowed from French stéthoscope, a word coined by its inventor, physician René Laennec, equivalent to stetho- + -scope.

Related phrases

Pinard fetal stethoscope

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.