Meaning & use
laparoscope
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedicaltechnical
A thin tube with a camera and light that a surgeon puts through a small cut to see or work inside the body.
Grammar: Countable: a laparoscope, two laparoscopes. Often used with 'insert' or 'guide'.
Patterns
- insert a laparoscope
- use a laparoscope to do something
- guide the laparoscope
The surgeon inserted a laparoscope through a tiny incision in the abdomen.
A laparoscope lets the doctor see the organs without making a large cut.
During the procedure, the laparoscope sends images to a video monitor.
Word forms
| plural | laparoscopes |
|---|
Common combinations
- insert a laparoscope
- They inserted a laparoscope to check for endometriosis.
- laparoscope procedure
- The laparoscope procedure took less than an hour.
- through a laparoscope
- The doctor viewed the tissue through a laparoscope.
Word family
- laparoscopy noun
- The examination or surgery done with a laparoscope.
- laparoscopic adjective
- Describing surgery done with a laparoscope.
Commonly confused: laparoscope or laparotomy?
laparoscope vs laparotomy
Laparotomy is open surgery with a large cut; laparoscope is the instrument used in keyhole surgery.
Practice
The doctor used a laparoscope to ___ the abdomen.
Choose one answer.
After 'to' we use the base form 'examine'. The other options are wrong because 'to' is followed by the infinitive without -s, -ed, or -ing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “laparoscope”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.