hospital
Syllables: hos·pit·al/ˈhɒs.pɪ.tl̩//ˈhɑs.pɪ.tl̩/
hospital noun: a large medical facility, usually in a building with multiple floors, where seriously ill or injured patients are given extensive medical or surgical treatment.
Noun
hospital (countable and uncountable, plural hospitals)
- A large medical facility, usually in a building with multiple floors, where seriously ill or injured patients are given extensive medical or surgical treatment.
- Luckily an ambulance arrived quickly and he was rushed to hospital.
- Luckily an ambulance arrived quickly and he was rushed to the hospital.
- A building founded for the long-term care of its residents, such as an almshouse.
- The foundling hospital took in abandoned children and educated them.
- A place of lodging.
- […] they spide a goodly castle, plast / Foreby a riuer in a pleasaunt dale, / Which choosing for that euenings hospitale, / They thither marcht […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Adjective
hospital (comparative more hospital, superlative most hospital)
- Hospitable.
- At last the Ocean, that hospital friend to the wretched, opened her capacious arms to receive him; and he instantly resolved to accept her kind invitation.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC
Proper noun capitalized: Hospital
Hospital (plural Hospitals)
- A surname.
hospital meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hospital in Hindi
- large medical facility
- अस्पताल aspatāl, चिकित्सालय cikitsālay, रुग्णालय rugṇālay, शफ़ाख़ाना śafāxānā, शिफ़ाख़ाना śifāxānā
hospital in Tamil
- large medical facility
- மருத்துவமனை maruttuvamaṉai, ஆஸ்பத்திரி āspattiri
hospital in Marathi
- large medical facility
- रुग्णालय rugṇālay, इस्पितळ ispitaḷ, हॉस्पिटल hŏspiṭal, दवाखाना davākhānā
hospital in Urdu
- large medical facility
- ہَسْپَتال haspatāl, شِفا خانَہ śifā xāna, اَسْپَتال aspatāl, دارُ الشِّفا dāru ś-śifā, بِیمارِسْتان bīmāristān, مُسْتَشْفیٰ mustaśfā
More languagesFewer languages
- hospital in Bengali
- হাসপাতাল haśpatal
- hospital in Telugu
- ఆసుపత్రి āsupatri, వైద్యశాల vaidyaśāla, దవాఖానా davākhānā, చికిత్సాశాల cikitsāśāla
- hospital in Malayalam
- ആശുപത്രി āśupatri
- hospital in Kannada
- ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ āspatre
- hospital in Punjabi
- ਹਸਪਤਾਲ haspatāl
- hospital in Gujarati
- રુગ્ણાલય rugṇālya, ઈસ્પિતાલ īspitāl
- hospital in Odia
- ଡାକ୍ତରଖାନା ḍāktarakhānā
- hospital in Sanskrit
- चिकित्सालय cikitsālaya
- hospital in Sinhala
- ආරෝග්යශාලා ārōgyaśālā, රෝහල් rōhal
- hospital in Assamese
- হস্পিতাল hospital
- hospital in Nepali
- चिकित्सालय cikitsālaya, अस्पताल aspatāl
- hospital in Pashto
- روغتون roǧtun, شفاخانه šafāxāna, هاسپيټل hāspiṭal, هسپټال haspaṭāl
- hospital in Tagalog
- ospital, pagamutan
- hospital in Arabic
- مُسْتَشْفًى mustašfan, مَارِسْتَان māristān, مستشفة mustašfa, قشلة
- hospital in Malay
- hospital, sepital, rumah sakit
- hospital in Indonesian
- rumah sakit
- hospital in Persian
- شَفَاخَانَه šafāxāna, بیمارِسْتان bimârestân, بیمارْخانِه bimârxâne, شَفاخانِه šafâxâne
- hospital in Thai
- โรงพยาบาล roong-pá-yaa-baan
- hospital in Vietnamese
- bệnh viện, nhà thương, y viện
- hospital in Myanmar
- ဆေးရုံ hce:rum
- Sindhi
- اسپتال ispatāl
- Dhivehi
- އަސްފަތާލު asfatālu, ހޮސްޕިޓަލު hospiṭalu
- Dzongkha
- སྨན་ཁང sman khang
Examples of hospital in a sentence
- The exhausted singer collapsed on stage and had to be taken to the hospital.
- After being stabbed, he went into survival mode until he got to the hospital.
- The CEO is currently in a hospital. The CFO is acting CEO in the meantime.
Synonyms of hospital
Forms of hospital
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hospitals |
| alternative form (obsolete) | hospitale |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more hospital |
| superlative | most hospital |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Hospitals |
Origin of hospital
From Middle English hospital, hospitall, from Old French hospital (Modern French hôpital), from Late Latin hospitālis, hospitāle (“hospice, shelter, guesthouse”), from noun use of Latin hospitālis (“hospitable”), from hospes (“host, guest”). Doublet of hotel and hostel. Displaced native Middle English lechehous, from Old English lǣċehūs (literally “doctor house”).
Words formed from hospital
- antihospital
- base hospital
- children's hospital
- cottage hospital
- field hospital
- general hospital
- hospicentric
- hospital bag
- hospital bed
- hospital corner
- hospital corpsman
- hospital fever
- hospital gangrene
- hospital gown
- hospitalise
- hospitalism
- hospitalist
- hospitalization
- hospitalize
- hospitalman
- hospital order
- hospital pass
- hospital pharmacy
- Hospital Row
- hospital ship
- hospital soap
- hospital sock
- in-hospital
- in hospital
- interhospital
- in the hospital
- intrahospital
- lock hospital
- Magdalen hospital
- Magdalene hospital
- marine hospital
- maternity hospital
- mental hospital
- military hospital
- multihospital
- nonhospital
- posthospital
- prehospital
- psych hospital
- psychiatric hospital
- put someone in hospital
- superhospital
- teaching hospital
- veterinary hospital
Phrases with hospital
Questions about hospital
- What does hospital mean?
- Hospital means a large medical facility, usually in a building with multiple floors, where seriously ill or injured patients are given extensive medical or surgical treatment.
- What is hospital in Hindi?
- Hospital in Hindi is अस्पताल (aspatāl), चिकित्सालय (cikitsālay), रुग्णालय (rugṇālay). See Hospital meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hospital?
- Hospital can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce hospital?
- Hospital is pronounced /ˈhɒs.pɪ.tl̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hospital?
- The plural of hospital is hospitals.
Words near hospital in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hospital (page history and authors); Hospital (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-hospital.ogg, en-us-hospital.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hospital.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hospital. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.