Meaning & use
operating room
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableAmericanmedical
A specially equipped hospital room where surgeons carry out operations.
Grammar: Takes an article: in the operating room.
Patterns
- in the operating room
- wheel someone into the operating room
The patient was wheeled into the operating room at noon.
Surgeons wash their hands carefully before entering the operating room.
The operating room must be kept very clean.
Word forms
| plural | operating rooms |
|---|
Common combinations
- in the operating room
- She spent four hours in the operating room.
- operating room nurse
- The operating room nurse prepared the tools.
- enter the operating room
- Doctors enter the operating room in sterile clothing.
- operating room table
- He lay on the operating room table.
- operating room schedule
- The hospital published the operating room schedule.
Synonyms and how they differ
- operating theatre
- Operating theatre is the British equivalent of operating room, with the same meaning.
- OR
- OR is the common American abbreviation, especially in hospital speech.
- surgery
- Surgery can mean the operation itself or a doctor's office in British English, so it is less specific than operating room.
Word family
Commonly confused: operating room or emergency room?
operating room vs emergency room
The emergency room is where patients with urgent problems first go, while the operating room is where surgery is performed.
Practice
Where would a surgeon perform an operation in a US hospital?
Choose one answer.
Surgery is carried out in the operating room. The other places are parts of a hospital but not used for operations.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “operating room”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.