What does postoperative mean?
Postoperative describes anything connected with the period after a surgical operation. It is especially common in medicine when discussing postoperative care, monitoring, pain, complications, recovery, or the time during which a patient remains under observation after surgery. For example, postoperative exercises may begin once a surgeon considers them medically safe, while postoperative infection is a complication that develops following an operation. The word is formal and technical but widely understood, and its meaning is sharply defined by the contrast with “preoperative.” It can also appear in general discussion of hospital treatment and recovery. Although “post-operative” is still frequently seen, the closed form “postoperative” is now standard in American usage and increasingly common in British usage as well. The adverb “postoperatively” is used when describing something done after an operation.
adjectiveRelating to or occurring after a surgical operation.
- Relating to the period following a surgical operation, especially to care, treatment, complications, or recovery during that period.
"The patient began postoperative rehabilitation the day after surgery."
"Postoperative pain gradually subsided after the first day."
"The hospital introduced a new postoperative recovery program for knee surgery."
Postoperative is essentially a medical timestamp: it tells you that something belongs to the period after surgery.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does postoperative come from?
“Postoperative” combines the Latin-derived prefix “post-,” meaning “after,” with “operative,” an adjective ultimately derived from Latin operari, “to work” or “to perform.” Its medical sense developed from the broader English use of “operation” for a surgical procedure. Related words include “operation,” “operative,” and “operator,” all associated with the Latin root meaning work or performance.
Related word forms
How postoperative is actually used
The unhyphenated spelling is standard in contemporary American English; “post-operative” with a hyphen is also widely used, particularly in British English. “Postoperatively” is the standard adverbial derivative.
Easily confused with postoperative
Postoperative refers to the time or conditions after an operation, whereas preoperative refers to the period before it.
Operative can relate to surgery or to surgery in progress, while postoperative specifically means occurring after an operation.