Word.ws English Dictionary

pro re nata

US/ˌpɹoʊˌreɪˈnɑ.tɑ/

pro re nata phrase: dealing with something that arises unexpectedly or out of due course; for special business.

Phrase

pro re nata (abbreviation PRN)

  1. Dealing with something that arises unexpectedly or out of due course; for special business.
  2. Used on medical charts by doctors to indicate that actions may be taken at the discretion of nursing staff depending on the patient's condition.
  3. Used on prescriptions to indicate that the medicines may be taken if and when the patients feel the need.

Forms of pro re nata

abbreviationPRN

Origin of pro re nata

From the Latin phrase pro (“for”) rē (“thing, matter”) nātā (“born, arisen”): "for what arises".

Questions about pro re nata

What does pro re nata mean?
Pro re nata means dealing with something that arises unexpectedly or out of due course; for special business.
What part of speech is pro re nata?
Pro re nata is a phrase.
How do you pronounce pro re nata?
Pro re nata is pronounced /ˌpɹoʊˌreɪˈnɑ.tɑ/ (US).

Words near pro re nata in the dictionary

  1. pro memorias
  2. pro nav
  3. pro parte
  4. pro per
  5. pro rata
  6. pro re nata
  7. pro se
  8. pro shop
  9. pro shops
  10. pro skirt
  11. pro skirts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pro re nata (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.

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Cite this entry: “pro re nata.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pro_re_nata. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.