adjective
-
of, relating to, involving, or used in surgery
-
(of an action) performed with extreme precision
a surgical air attack on the missile complex
Other Word Forms
- nonsurgical adjective
- nonsurgically adverb
- postsurgical adjective
- presurgical adjective
- prosurgical adjective
- surgically adverb
- unsurgical adjective
- unsurgically adverb
Etymology
Origin of surgical
Explanation
Things that are surgical have something to do with an operation performed by a surgeon, or something done with the level of precision a surgeon exercises. So, you could wear surgical scrubs or conduct a surgical strike. A surgical resident is a doctor who's learning to specialize in performing surgery, and the surgical wing of a hospital is the area where surgery is performed. Because what a surgeon does requires such precision and care, the adjective is also used to describe anything done carefully: "Surgical bombing is supposed to be much more precise, with narrow military targets."
Vocabulary lists containing surgical
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
User-friendly design can save lives by allowing for legibility and shared understanding, making it safer to run nuclear power plants, air traffic control towers, and robotic surgical systems.
From Slate • Apr. 4, 2026
Woods' leg needed surgical rebuilding and there were plenty who doubted his golfing future.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
Other startups are launching or developing clinical-AI services in areas such as mental health and surgical rehabilitation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
“He is at risk of infection, he is at risk of meningitis, he is at risk of death if he is not given the proper care for his surgical implants.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
“She died a year later during a surgical procedure to fix some of the damage. It was a fluke—an infection.”
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
