residential care

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   A service where people live in a home or center and trained staff look after them day and night.

   Grammar: No plural and no article: say 'She receives residential care', not 'a residential care'.

   Patterns

   • receive residential care
   • provide residential care
   • residential care for someone
   • residential care home

   After her stroke, my grandmother needed residential care because she could no longer live alone.

   The council pays for residential care only when a person's savings fall below a certain level.

   He works in a residential care facility for adults with severe learning disabilities.

2. 2noununcountable

   The part of a hospital, school, or other institution where patients or students live while they are being treated or taught.

   Grammar: Often followed by 'for' plus the group being looked after: residential care for teenagers.

   Patterns

   • residential care for someone
   • in residential care
   • residential care unit

   The clinic offers residential care for young people recovering from serious eating disorders.

   Children in residential care usually have a key worker who checks on them every day.

Common combinations

residential care home

Her parents chose a residential care home near their village so they could visit often.

receive residential care

Patients who receive residential care stay on site for several weeks.

provide residential care

The charity provides residential care for elderly people with dementia.

residential care facility

The new residential care facility has forty private rooms and a therapy garden.

residential care setting

Working in a residential care setting requires patience and strong communication skills.

Synonyms and how they differ

nursing care

Use this when medical nursing is the main element; residential care may involve only help with daily living.

assisted living

This is the common American term for housing where residents get help but stay fairly independent.

inpatient care

This fits hospital treatment where someone stays overnight; residential care usually describes long-term living arrangements, not medical treatment.

Opposites

Word family

resident noun

A person who lives in a particular place or institution.

residential adjective

Describing an area or building where people live rather than work.

residence noun

The place where someone lives, or the fact of living there.

reside verb

A formal verb meaning to live in a place.

Commonly confused: residential care or residential? residential care or residency?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “residential care”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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