in hospital
- idiom
- /ɪn ˈhɒspɪtəl/
- UK
- After breaking his leg, he was in hospital for several weeks.
- in-hospital discharge
- days in hospital
- People in hospital
And he was in hospital for quite some time.
- And he was in hospital for quite some time.
- And my mom was in hospital with my dad in here in London.
- What should we say tampered with and I ended up in hospital by myself in Berlin.
- That's like when you think of the regular inpatient in hospital that's Med surg.
- Next day, back in hospital, same thing, vomiting everything, seizures.
- One was about people at the edge of life in hospital.
- And well, I heard about the stroke when he was in hospital.
- So when I was in hospital I had me, me wrists stitched up, internal stitching.
- Or someone who's in hospital with a skin wrap, like, I don't want to see this.
- And as I'm saying this, Roddy's back in London with her grandma, who's been in hospital for the past two weeks.
- It's about I've now forgotten because my memory has gone to shit since being in hospital.
- So still lots of patients in hospital, but again the trends are in the right direction.
- Yeah, you're not visiting me in hospital every now and again, you know I'm here with you.
- And I would feel so guilty if I was going out and having fun while she was sick in bed or in hospital or having cancer treatments.
- But yeah, so did five months in hospital and they're like, you get to a point in hospital and I used to drive the doctor wild, mate.
Examples
-
We're in hospital.
-
On the second occasion, he was in hospital for three weeks.
Academic text (2011) -
And he was in hospital for quite some time.
-
And my mom was in hospital with my dad in here in London.
-
I was in hospital total about six months.
-
After being in hospital, we said, you know, "How are you feeling?"
-
Yeah, they want to keep her in hospital for a few more days.
-
"If there are other children, who looks after them when the ill child is in hospital?"
Academic text (2003) -
She visited a lot of sick children in hospital.
-
He's just had a spell in hospital and has nowhere to convalesce.
Fiction book (1994)
Antonyms
- Specialized
A person who gets medical treatment at a clinic or hospital but goes home the same day
How Remote
- Specialized
- UK
Surface Forms
Morphology
The basic locative sense ('inside a hospital') is directly derivable from combining 'in' + 'hospital', so a learner who knows both words will grasp a location meaning. However, the specific British usage 'in hospital' (meaning 'admitted/receiving treatment' with no article) and its contrast with forms like American 'in the hospital' may not be predictable to a B1 learner, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The phrase in hospital comes from British English: when someone was a patient they stayed inside the hospital building rather than visiting, so people said they were in hospital. That's why the phrase means 'receiving medical treatment as a patient'.