Okuzeka
Medicine vocabulary · Prescriptions and Medication

Course

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/kɔːrs/nounCommon term

In medicine, course means: A set number of doses of a medicine, or sessions of treatment, given over a fixed period; also the way an illness develops over time.

In Turkish: kür, tedavi süreci, seyir

How it is used

Common with antibiotics, steroids and chemotherapy: 'a five-day course', 'complete the course'. In the second meaning doctors talk about the clinical course or the course of the illness.

Example sentences

  1. She's halfway through a seven-day course of antibiotics.

  2. His hospital course was complicated by a chest infection.

Common collocations

  • a course of antibiotics
  • complete the course
  • short course of steroids
  • clinical course
  • course of treatment
  • antibioticA medicine that kills bacteria or stops them from growing, used to treat bacterial infections. It does not work against viruses.
  • doseThe amount of a medicine taken or given at one time, for example 500 mg, often stated together with how often it is taken.
  • treatmentThe care, medicine, surgery or other help given to a patient to cure an illness, control it or ease its symptoms.
  • prescriptionA doctor's written or electronic instruction saying which medicine a patient should get, how much, how often and for how long.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Prescriptions and Medication

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level:

This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.