infirmary

/ɪnˈfʌrməri/

/ɪnˈfʌməri/

Other forms: infirmaries

An infirmary is a hospital, or the area of an institution that's used as a hospital. If you come down with chickenpox at summer camp, you might have to spend a few nights in the camp infirmary.

While you can call a hospital an infirmary, you're most likely to do this if you're British and referring to a specific hospital, like the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Infirmaries are usually spaces within larger buildings that provide healthcare. Inmates go to the prison infirmary when they're sick, and soldiers get their checkups at the military base infirmary. The earliest infirmaries were in monasteries. The Latin root is infirmus, "weak or frail."

Definitions of infirmary

1. noun

   a health facility where patients receive treatment
   synonyms: hospital

   types:

   creche, foundling hospital

   a hospital where foundlings (infant children of unknown parents) are taken in and cared for

   lazar house, lazaret, lazarette, lazaretto, pesthouse

   hospital for persons with infectious diseases (especially leprosy)

   maternity hospital

   a hospital that provides care for women during pregnancy and childbirth and for newborn infants

   asylum, insane asylum, institution, mental home, mental hospital, mental institution, psychiatric hospital

   a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced people

   military hospital

   hospital for soldiers and other military personnel

   sanatarium, sanatorium, sanitarium

   a hospital for recuperation or for the treatment of chronic diseases

   Bedlam, booby hatch, crazy house, cuckoo's nest, funny farm, funny house, loony bin, madhouse, nut house, nuthouse, sanatorium, snake pit

   pejorative terms for an insane asylum

   field hospital

   a temporary military hospital near the battle lines

   type of:

   health facility, healthcare facility, medical building

   building where medicine is practiced