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Medical English Regular Verbs List
Medical English Regular Verbs List
Here is an extensive list of the most common Medical English regular verbs along with their
definitions and examples of use.
Remember that a verb is regular when both past forms (past simple and past participle) finish in
‘ed’.
Ache
Suffer a dull, continuous pain: My head began to ache and I felt dizzy.
Administer
Apply or give a treatment or drug as a remedy: The doctor administers a drug to the patient.
Admit
Register a patient in a hospital for medical treatment: The patient was admitted to the hospital this
morning.
Aggravate
Make worse, especially something that is already damaged: Long distance running just aggravated
his knee injury.
Analyse
Breathe
Inhale and exhale air: When I go up the stairs I often have difficulty breathing.
Bruise
Injure without breaking the skin, especially with some discolouration: Jimmy fell off his bike and
badly bruised his leg.
Catheterise
Insert a catheter into a part of the body: The elderly patient was catheterised for three weeks.
Choke
When you cannot breathe because something is blocking your throat or there is a lack of air: The
child almost choked to death after swallowing a bone.
Complain
Express feelings of pain or discomfort: The patient was a 57-year-old man who complained of
central chest pain.
Cough
Suddenly and noisily expel air from the lungs through the mouth: The patient starting coughing
violently for about 30 seconds.
Cure
Deliver
Assist in giving birth: The midwife delivered the twins early in the morning.
Deteriorate
Become worse: The patient’s health deteriorated to the point that a wheelchair was needed for
any type of mobility.
Diagnose
Find out what physical or mental problem someone has by examining them: I diagnosed that the
patient had a heart condition.
Die
Stop living: According to doctors, several patients died as a result of organ failure.
Discard
Throw away something after you have used it: The surgeon discarded his disposable gloves after
the surgery.
Discharge
Officially allow a patient to leave the hospital after being admitted: The 27-year-old male was
discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon in a stable condition.
Ease
Alleviate pain or symptoms: She had an injection to ease the pain in her leg.
Examine
Check or test the condition or health of a patient: The paediatrician examined the child’s rash.
Explore
Examine an interior part or body cavity for diagnostic purposes, especially by surgery: An upper
endoscopy allows the doctor to explore the cause of such symptoms such as difficulty in
swallowing and abdominal pain.
Faint
Lose consciousness: Mrs Smith fainted when she saw the blood.
Fracture
Break or crack, especially a bone: The player fractured his arm in two places.
Harm
Injure physically or mentally: Cigarette smoking harms nearly every organ of your body.
Heal
When the skin becomes healthy again after an injury: The wound should heal faster if you take off
the bandage.
Infect
Transmit a disease: The sick child has infected practically the whole class.
Inflame
Cause the skin to go hot or go red: Certain chemicals can sometimes inflame the skin.
Inject
Put a drug into your body through the skin, using a needle and a syringe: The nurse injected the
medication into the patient’s chest and he was taken to the ward.
Irritate
Make inflamed or sore: Certain beauty products can irritate the skin.
Itch
If your skin itches you have a strong desire to scratch it: It is not uncommon for people’s skin to
itch after having taken a shower.
Numb
Make an area of the body numb for a surgical procedure: The local anaesthetic will numb the skin
before the procedure.
Nurse
Serve as a nurse for someone: They nursed the patient during her illness.
Operate
Perform surgery: The surgeons decided to operate on the baby as it was a matter of life and death.
Perform
Prescribe
If a doctor prescribes a drug or treatment, they say you should have it: The doctor prescribed a
course of antibiotics.
Present
Show symptoms or signs during a medical examination: Our patient presented with chest pain on
exertion.
Probe
Explore a part of the body using a special tool (a probe): The surgeon then probed the wound with
a scalpel.
Radiate
Extend or spread: The pain may radiate to the neck or even the jaw.
Reassure
Comfort a patient, perhaps before an operation: The nurse reassured me and told me everything
was fine.
Recover
Regain normal health after an illness or injury: The elderly patient has fully recovered after the
operation.
Refer
Relieve
To alleviate pain or symptoms: This drug should help to relieve the pain.
Replace
When a dysfunctional joint is substituted for an orthopaedic prosthesis: Elderly patients often need
to have a hip replaced.
Respond
Begin to get better because of the treatment: The cancer is not responding to the drugs.
Shiver
Shake or tremble, especially because of being cold or fever: I was shivering because of the fever.
Sneeze
Forcibly expel air out of your nose in a sudden uncontrolled way: All this dust is making me sneeze.
Soothe
Relieve the pain or discomfort: This lotion will soothe the rash.
Specialise
Study or treat one particular type of patient: He specialises in children with stomach problems.
Sprain
Injure a joint by a sudden twisting: The runner fell and sprained his ankle.
Sterilise
Make free from germs: Needles used for injections must be sterilised.
Strain
Injure a muscle by making it work too hard: She strained her back when she tried to lift the table.
Suffer
Have an illness for a long period of time: Jill has suffered from migraines for years now.
Swallow
Pass food or drink through the mouth and throat into the stomach: When you have a sore throat it
may hurt to swallow.
Sweat
Test
Check for the presence of infection or disease: The doctor tested the patient’s blood.
Treat
Use medicine or medical methods to cure a patient or an illness: The injured passengers were
treated for minor injuries after the accident.
Vaccinate
Use a vaccine to give a patient immunisation against a specific disease: Sarah was vaccinated
against smallpox as a child.
Weigh
Determine the weight of something or someone: The nurse weighed the new-born baby on the
scales.
Worsen
Make or become worse: The patient’s condition worsened despite the medication