Surgical
adj ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Of, relating to, used in, or resulting from surgery.
"Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads."
- 2 Precise or very accurate. figuratively
"The building was destroyed with a surgical air-strike."
- 3 Excruciatingly or wearyingly drawn-out. figuratively
- 1 performed with great precision wordnet
- 2 relating to or requiring or amenable to treatment by surgery especially as opposed to medicine wordnet
- 3 of or relating to or involving or used in surgery wordnet
Example
More examples"For these patients, surgical treatment is far from being satisfactory."
Etymology
From Middle English cirurgical, borrowed from Middle French cirurgical, from Medieval Latin cirurgicālis, ultimately from Ancient Greek χειρουργία (kheirourgía), from χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work”). Replaced Old English Old English læċe (“doctor, physician”). By surface analysis, surgery + -ical.
Related phrases
More for "surgical"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.