Hippocratic oath
7
5.6
- noun
- /ˌhɪpəˈkrætɪk oʊθ/
- Formal
:
juramento hipocrático
- As the medical students graduated, they've changed the Hippocratic Oath quite a bit.
Like a leader of Hamas who's in prison because I've taken the Hippocratic Oath, I have to save that person.
- Like a leader of Hamas who's in prison because I've taken the Hippocratic Oath, I have to save that person.
- This is like a surgical creation by a Doctor Who's got a Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.
- When you're a doctor, you you've got the hip Hippocratic Oath, right?
- So that's part of me that I signed up for when I took the Hippocratic Oath so that I won't leave behind.
Examples
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The Hippocratic oath, often misunderstood as a great document about general moral principles in medicine, should be read as a manifesto for protecting the secret.
Academic text (1998) -
Doctors have a code of ethics, the Hippocratic Oath, lawyers, accountants, journalists.
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"Hey, what about our Hippocratic Oath?"
Fiction book (2001) -
We could start with the Hippocratic Oath: "Do No Harm."
Blog text (5) -
I believe anyone elected to public office should abide by a version of the Hippocratic Oath for physicians and strive to "first, do no harm."
Blog text (1) -
She stated on several occasions that they are dismissing the Hippocratic oath, the very oath that says doctors need to protect life.
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A basic starting point could be that laws are "good" if they do no harm—as in the Hippocratic oath.
Blog text (5) -
Doctors take the Hippocratic oath to promise that they will always prioritize their patients' welfare.
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The Hippocratic oath emphasizes the ethical commitment of physicians to provide care without causing harm.
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In medical school, students learn the significance of the Hippocratic oath as a foundation for their professional ethics.
Synonyms
385
3.6
A formal promise made in a serious or official situation
279
3.4
A serious promise to do or not do something, often for religious reasons
206
3.7
A serious promise to do or stop doing something
A serious promise soldiers make to the state or their commander
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'Hippocratic' (relating to Hippocrates/medical practice) with 'oath' (a solemn pledge), so its meaning as a medical pledge taken by doctors is directly inferable from the constituents. This composition is a literal, language-general attributive + noun pattern (and exists similarly across many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the parts can understand it.
Etymology
Hippocratic oath comes from an old doctor named Hippocrates, who set out rules for how doctors should act. Doctors would say this oath as a 'promise' to help patients and 'do no harm', so today it means a doctor's serious promise to follow those rules.