Meaning & use
candystriper
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformalAmerican
A young person, usually a teenage girl, who works without pay in a hospital, often wearing a red-and-white striped uniform.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a candystriper' for one, 'candystripers' for more than one.
Patterns
- work as a candystriper
- a candystriper at a hospital
As a candystriper, she delivered magazines and flowers to patients on weekends.
The hospital's candystriper program gives teenagers a first look at medical careers.
He joked that his first hospital experience was as a candystriper in high school.
Word forms
| plural | candystripers |
|---|
Common combinations
- candystriper program
- The candystriper program runs every summer for local high school students.
- work as a candystriper
- She worked as a candystriper before deciding to become a nurse.
- candystriper uniform
- The old candystriper uniform was a red-and-white pinafore.
- join the candystripers
- He decided to join the candystripers to get experience with patients.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hospital volunteer
- This is the neutral, official term; use it in formal writing or when the person's age and uniform are not relevant.
- candy striper
- This is the same word written as two words; the one-word spelling is more common today.
Word family
- candy stripe noun
- A pattern of narrow stripes in two colors, especially red and white, like the uniform.
Commonly confused: candystriper or candy striper?
candystriper vs candy striper
This means the same thing; it is just a different spelling. The one-word form 'candystriper' is standard in modern use.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'candystriper' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A candystriper is a young hospital volunteer, so sentence B fits. Sentence A confuses it with 'candy cane' or 'candy stripe' as something to eat or buy, and C and D treat it as a physical object, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “candystriper”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.