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Doctor of Medicine

Doctor of Medicine

1 3.7
A university degree that lets a person treat sick people
  • noun
  • /ˈdɑktər əv ˈmɛdɪsɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Doctor en Medicina
  • After completing medical school, she earned her Doctor of Medicine degree and began her residency in pediatrics.

Examples

  • He graduated with his class, earning a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School in 1975, and went on to complete a residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

    Blog text (19)
  • He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1956 and had been a professor of neurosurgery at London Hospital since 1970.

    Blog text (19)
  • Yale conferred its first honorary doctorate, an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine), in 1723.

    Academic text (2002)
  • To practice medicine, a student must graduate with a Doctor of Medicine degree from an accredited institution.

  • He was proud to receive his Doctor of Medicine diploma, marking the end of years of rigorous training.

Synonyms

MD
vsDoctor of Medicine
13 3.5

A doctor qualified to treat patients

is the formal academic qualification awarded after finishing medical school

How Advanced

Doctor of Medicine
  • Specialized
1 3.7
certificate
307 2.7

Surface Forms

Morphology

doctor + of + medicine

The phrase is compositionally built from 'doctor' + 'of' + 'medicine', so a B1 learner who knows those constituents will readily infer it refers to a doctor associated with the field of medicine (or the medical degree/title, e.g. MD). The genitive/relational 'of' and the cross-linguistically common pattern (e.g. 'Doctor en/à de médecine') make the meaning directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Doctor of Medicine comes from old universities where the word Doctor meant 'teacher' and showed someone with great knowledge. Being the Doctor of Medicine meant you were the teacher or expert in healing, so today the phrase names a person 'qualified to practice medicine'.