outpatients

noun

plural of outpatient
as in inpatients
a person who goes to a doctor's office or hospital for treatment but who does not spend the night there
—often used before another noun outpatient surgery It was a minor procedure that could be performed at an outpatient clinic.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of outpatients The study also found that the number of children aged fiveto 17 who were prescribed leucovorin as outpatients increased by 71 percent. — Sara Novak, Scientific American, 5 Mar. 2026 Xofluza is not recommended during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, for outpatients with complicated or progressive illness, severely immunosuppressed people or hospitalized patients, because of the lack of information on its use for these groups. — Jacqueline Howard, CNN Money, 26 Dec. 2025 When people were also treated with a long-acting form of an opioid-blocking medication called naltrexone, relapse rates dropped across all settings — to 59% after short-term inpatient care, 46% after long-term inpatient care and 38% for those treated as outpatients. — Emma Fenske, The Conversation, 12 Feb. 2026 In 2023 about 88% of Weiss’ inpatients and nearly 67% of its outpatients were on Medicare or Medicaid, according to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. — Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 8 Aug. 2025 That down-to-the-toes level of care is a feature of a program that has transformed the way MLK Community Healthcare treats diabetes, a chronic condition that affects one in every six South Los Angeles residents and nearly a quarter of MLK’s outpatients. — Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2026 On November 21, CMS updated Medicare payment policies and rates for hospital outpatients and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) services in 2026. — Lauren Giella, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for outpatients
  1. inpatients
  2. patients
Noun
  • Managing or controlling vending machines with vapes or nicotine products is also an offense, unless in mental health hospitals mainly for inpatients.
    — Chad de Guzman, Time, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The hospital shuttered its emergency department on Wednesday, and then worked to transfer its inpatients to other hospitals by the end of the day Friday.
    — Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2026
Definition of inpatients
Noun
  • Doctors Without Borders health workers wearing personal protective equipment move through the isolated red zone to monitor patients, provide medical care and ensure sanitation at the Ebola Treatment Center in Munigi in Congo on June 2, 2026.
    — Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 6 July 2026
  • Since then, South Florida patients have lost access to therapies that were working.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 5 July 2026
Definition of patients

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outpatient
outpatients
outperform
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Cite this Entry

“Outpatients.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/outpatients. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on outpatients

Nglish: Translation of outpatients for Spanish Speakers

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