patient

patient

I

pa‧tient¹ S2 W1 /ˈpeɪʃənt/ noun [countable]someone who is receiving medical treatment from a doctor or in a hospital
     

COLLOCATIONS

■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + patient
   ▪ a cancer/AIDS etc patient One in three cancer patients suffers no pain at all.
   ▪ a heart patient (=one with heart disease) Some heart patients have to wait between three months and a year for surgery.
   ▪ a mental/psychiatric patient (=one with problems relating to their mind) The drug was used in the past to treat mental patients.
   ▪ a seriously ill/critically ill patient The ward was packed with seriously ill patients.
   ▪ a hospital patient All hospital patients have to follow a daily routine.
■ verbs
   ▪ treat a patient (=try to cure their illness or injury) Patients are treated in terms of priority.
   ▪ see a patient I stayed in the treatment room while the doctor saw another patient.
   ▪ examine a patient Can you please wait outside while the physician examines the patient.
   ▪ a patient receives treatment/a drug Twelve of these patients were receiving treatment with a new drug.
   ▪ a patient responds to treatment (=starts recovering) Some patients respond quickly and satisfactorily to treatment.
   ▪ a patient recovers The treatment succeeded and the patient recovered rapidly.
   ▪ a patient is admitted (to hospital) This examination should be done when the patient is admitted to hospital.
   ▪ a patient is discharged (from hospital) (=allowed to leave it) The patient was discharged after eight days.
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ customer someone who buys goods or services from a shop or company: Customers were waiting for the shop to open. | The bank is one of our biggest customers.
   ▪ client someone who pays for a service from a professional person or company: He has a meeting with one of his clients. | The company buys and sells shares on behalf of their clients
   ▪ shopper someone who goes to the shops looking for things to buy: The streets were full of Christmas shoppers.
   ▪ guest someone who pays to stay in a hotel: Guests must leave their rooms by 10 am.
   ▪ patron /ˈpeɪtrən/ formal a customer of a particular shop, restaurant or hotel – usually written on signs: The notice said ‘Parking for Patrons Only’.
   ▪ patient someone who is getting medical treatment from a doctor, or in a hospital: He is a patient of Dr Williams.
   ▪ consumer anyone who buys goods or uses services – used when considering these people as a group who have particular rights, needs, or behaviour: Consumers are demanding more environmentally-friendly products. | the rights of the consumer | The law is designed to protect consumers who buy goods on the Internet.
   ▪ market the number of people who want to buy a product, or the type of people who want to buy it: The market for organic food is growing all the time. | a magazine aimed at the youth market
   ▪ clientele /ˌkliːənˈtel $ ˌklaɪənˈtel, ˌkliː-/ formal the type of customers that a particular shop, restaurant etc gets: The hotel has a very upmarket clientele. | They have a wealthy international clientele.

II

patient² W3 adjectiveable to wait calmly for a long time or to accept difficulties, people’s annoying behaviour etc without becoming angry
   OPP  impatient:
    You’ll just have to be patient and wait till I’m off the phone.
    patient with
    Louise was very patient with me.
—patiently adverb:
    He waited patiently for Katherine to speak.