Meaning & use
anesthetist
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedical
A medical professional trained to give drugs that stop patients from feeling pain or being awake during an operation.
Grammar: Countable; plural is anesthetists: the anesthetist, two anesthetists.
Patterns
- the anesthetist
- anesthetist for something
The anesthetist checked my allergies before the operation.
An anesthetist stays beside the patient throughout the surgery.
She trained for years to become an anesthetist.
Word forms
| plural | anesthetists |
|---|
Common combinations
- consultant anesthetist
- The consultant anesthetist explained the risks.
- qualified anesthetist
- Only a qualified anesthetist may give this drug.
- speak to the anesthetist
- You will speak to the anesthetist before you go into surgery.
- nurse anesthetist
- A nurse anesthetist prepared the patient.
- anesthetist and surgeon
- The anesthetist and surgeon discussed the plan.
Synonyms and how they differ
- anesthesiologist
- Anesthesiologist is the usual American term for a doctor in this field and sounds more formal than anesthetist.
- surgeon
- A surgeon operates on the patient, while the anesthetist controls pain and consciousness during the operation.
Word family
- anesthesia noun
- loss of feeling or consciousness produced by drugs
- anesthetic noun
- a drug that causes anesthesia
- anesthetize verb
- to give a drug that removes feeling
- anesthesiologist noun
- physician specializing in anesthesia
Commonly confused: anesthetist or anesthetic?
anesthetist vs anesthetic
Anesthetic is the drug, while an anesthetist is the person who gives it.
Practice
Who gives a patient the drug that prevents pain during surgery?
Choose one answer.
The anesthetist manages anesthesia during surgery. The surgeon operates, so that is the tempting wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “anesthetist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.