- a separate room or area in a hospital for people with the same type of medical condition
- a maternity/surgical/psychiatric/children’s ward
- on the ward He worked as a nurse on the children's ward.
Extra ExamplesTopics Healthcarec1- How many midwives are on the ward?
- She spent five days in the maternity ward.
- The doctor was doing her morning ward round.
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- (in the UK and some other countries) one of the areas into which a city or town is divided and which elects and is represented by a member of the local council
- (law) a person, especially a child, who is under the legal protection of a court or another person (called a guardian)
- The child was made a ward of court.
Word OriginOld English weard (originally referring to ‘the action of keeping a lookout for danger’, also ‘body of guards’), weardian ‘keep safe, guard’, of Germanic origin; reinforced in Middle English by Old Northern French warde (noun), warder (verb) ‘guard’.
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ward