PATIENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does patient mean? 

• PATIENT (noun)
  The noun PATIENT has 2 senses:

1. a person who requires medical care

2. the semantic role of an entity that is not the agent but is directly involved in or affected by the happening denoted by the verb in the clause

  Familiarity information: PATIENT used as a noun is rare.

• PATIENT (adjective)
  The adjective PATIENT has 1 sense:

1. enduring trying circumstances with even temper or characterized by such endurance

  Familiarity information: PATIENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PATIENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who requires medical care

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

the number of emergency patients has grown rapidly

Hypernyms ("patient" is a kind of...):

diseased person; sick person; sufferer (a person suffering from an illness)

case (a person requiring professional services)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "patient"):

alexic (a person with alexia)

analysand (a person undergoing psychoanalysis)

arthritic (a person afflicted with arthritis)

hypertensive (a person who has abnormally high blood pressure)

hypochondriac (a patient with imaginary symptoms and ailments)

hypotensive (a person who has abnormally low blood pressure)

index case (the earliest documented case of a disease that is included in an epidemiological study)

inmate; inpatient (a patient who is residing in the hospital where he is being treated)

outpatient (a patient who does not reside in the hospital where he is being treated)

vaccinee (a patient who has been vaccinated)

Holonyms ("patient" is a member of...):

doctor-patient relation (the responsibility of a physician to act in the best interests of the patient)

nurse-patient relation (the responsibility of a nurse to act in the best interests of the patient)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The semantic role of an entity that is not the agent but is directly involved in or affected by the happening denoted by the verb in the clause

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

affected role; patient; patient role

Hypernyms ("patient" is a kind of...):

participant role; semantic role ((linguistics) the underlying relation that a constituent has with the main verb in a clause)

• PATIENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Enduring trying circumstances with even temper or characterized by such endurance

Context example:

please be patient

Similar:

diligent; persevering (quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness)

enduring; long-suffering (patiently bearing continual wrongs or trouble)

forbearing; longanimous (showing patient and unruffled self-control and restraint under adversity; slow to retaliate or express resentment)

patient of; tolerant (showing the capacity for endurance)

unhurried (capable of accepting delay with equanimity)

Also:

uncomplaining (not complaining)

tolerant (showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others)

Antonym:

impatient (restless or short-tempered under delay or opposition)

Derivation:

patience (good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence)

 Context examples 

I can fancy what a wonderful power he must have over his patients.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Researchers have found that NM-MRI signal is lower in the substantia nigra of people with Parkinson’s disease, reflecting the cell death that occurs in these patients.

(Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI identified as a potential biomarker for psychosis, National Institutes of Health)

But for his having been so patient and persevering for so long a time, we never could have hoped to do anything worth speaking of.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is possible that patients who did not fully recover following a head injury may have had problems with the first phase of the repair process.

(Scientists watch the brain’s lining heal after a head injury, National Institutes of Health)

It is also a high priority for patients.

(Patients with an ‘empathic’ GP at reduced risk of early death, University of Cambridge)

It is used in patients whose disease has not gotten better during or after treatment with other anticancer drugs.

(ABX-EGF, NCI Dictionary)

So kind, so good, so patient with me always, my dear old Fritz.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The patients present with anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia.

(Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Minimal Differentiation, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

EXAMPLE(S): routine requirement, drug reaction, infectious disease reporting requirement, on patient request

(Activity Reason Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

A treatment plan that involves closely watching a patient’s condition but not giving any treatment unless there are changes in test results that show the condition is getting worse.

(Active surveillance, NCI Dictionary)