surgery

Surgery is a branch of medicine that solves health problems by operating on the body, or the process of having an operation, or is a location where such an operation is performed.

(noun)

  1. A doctor who learns how to cut people open to remove their tonsils is an example of a doctor specializing in surgery.
  2. An operation in which a doctor cuts you open and removes your tonsils is an example of a surgery.
  3. The place where you go to have an operation is an example of a surgery.

YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2013 by LoveToKnow Corp.

See surgery in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. surgeries

    1. the treatment of disease, injury, or deformity by manual or instrumental operations, as the removal of diseased parts or tissue by cutting
    2. an operation of this kind
    3. the branch of medicine dealing with this
  1. the operating room of a surgeon or hospital
  2. Brit. a doctor's office

Origin: ME < OFr cirurgie, contr. of cirurgerie < L chirurgia < Gr cheirourgia, a working with the hands, handicraft, skill < cheir (gen. cheiros), the hand + ergein, to work

See surgery in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. sur·ger·ies
  1. The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of injury, deformity, and disease by manual and instrumental means.
  2. A surgical operation or procedure, especially one involving the removal or replacement of a diseased organ or tissue.
  3. An operating room or a laboratory of a surgeon or of a hospital's surgical staff.
  4. The skill or work of a surgeon.
  5. Chiefly British
    a. A physician's, dentist's, or veterinarian's office.
    b. The period during which a physician, dentist, or veterinarian consults with or treats patients in the office.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English surgerie

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , short for cirurgerie

Origin: , from cirurgie

Origin: , from Latin chīrūrgia

Origin: , from Greek kheirourgiā

Origin: , from kheirourgos, working by hand

Origin: : kheir, hand; see ghes- in Indo-European roots

Origin: + ergon, work; see werg- in Indo-European roots

.

See surgery in Ologies

Surgery

See also medical specialties.

ablation

Medicine. removal of part of the body by surgery.

apocope

excision or amputation.

cauterism

Obsolete, cautery.

cautery

the act of cauterization, or burning away of dead tissue.

centesis

a surgical perforation or puncture.

chirurgery

Archaic. surgery.

comminution

the breaking of a bone into small pieces. See also bones.

craniotome

a surgical instrument for opening a hole in the skull.

cryosurgery

a surgical technique using freezing to destroy tissue.

dermatoplasty

any form of plastic surgery of the skin, as skin grafts.

elytroplasty

surgery of the vagina.

neoplasty

repair or restoration of part of the body by plastic surgery.

osteoplasty

the surgical practice of bone-grafting.

osteotome

a serrated instrument for bone surgery.

osteotomy

1. the dissection or anatomy of bones.

2. the cutting of bones as part of a surgical operation. —osteotomist, n.

prosthetics

the branch of surgery dealing with the replacement of missing limbs or organs with artificial substitutes. — prosthetic, adj.

tomomania

an obsession with surgery.

traumatonesis

the process of suture.

vasectomy

surgical excision of part of the vas deferens, the duct which carries sperm from the testes, performed as a form of male contraception.

zooplasty

the process of surgically grafting tissue from a lower animal onto the human body. —zooplastic, adj.

Learn more about surgery

Related Articles

link/cite print suggestion box