Meaning & use

inpatient

noun·Academic

A patient who is admitted to a hospital and stays there for treatment or observation.

See it in a sentence

He was kept as an inpatient for two nights after the operation.

The hospital's inpatient ward was completely full during the worst week of flu season.

A note on using this word

Do not confuse with impatient, an adjective meaning unwilling to wait calmly; the two words are spelled and pronounced differently despite looking similar.

Words with a similar meaning

This term is best learned through its definition and examples.

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

outpatient

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