medicare

M3E1D2I1C3A1R1E1
UK/ˈmɛdɪˌkɛə/US/ˈmɛdɪˌkɛɚ/

noun

The Canadian public health insurance system.

“My mom started getting Medicare last week.”

CommonScrabble 13

Meanings

medicare1

nounmedicare (uncountable)
  1. CanadauncountableThe Canadian public health insurance system.

    He said, for him, the Liberals defined Canada by championing medicare and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and by addressing such issues as same-sex marriage.

    2009 January 20, Les Whittington, “Ignatieff decries Harper's 'plan'”, in Toronto Star

Medicare2

proper noun
  1. USThe system of government subsidies for health care for the elderly and disabled.

    My mom started getting Medicare last week.

    1 more example

    One Nation, a new 501(c)4 linked to the Karl-Rove-backed American Crossroads super PAC, is spending more than $1.9 million on print, radio and digital ads highlighting the efforts of Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey to pass the “doc fix” legislation that realigned payments to Medicare providers with inflation.

    2015 May 12, Alexandra Jaffe, “First on CNN: New Rove-linked group spends $2M to boost GOP incumbents”, in CNN
  2. AustraliaThe publicly funded universal health care system, operated by the government authority Medicare Australia.First known use 1984.

    Medicare benefits are available to all persons ordinarily resident in Australia with the exception of members of foreign diplomatic missions and their dependants.

    1984, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year Book Australia: No. 68, 1984, page 190
    2 more examples

    All Australians are covered by Medicare, which is a universal insurance system controlled by the Australian Government through Commonwealth–State Health Care Agreements.

    2008, Jackie Crisp, Catherine Taylor, Potter and Perry′s Fundamentals of Nursing, page 25

    Aside from Medicare, Australia′s universal health care system, most other support is income- or means-tested, depending on the level of income and assets of the care recipient, with some residents required to pay a daily fee to contribute to their care.

    2010, Elizabeth MacKinlay, Ageing and Spirituality Across Faiths and Cultures, page 229
  3. CanadaAlternative letter-case form of medicare.

Origin

  1. Latinmedeor
  2. Latinmedicus
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  5. Medieval Latinmedicāli
  6. Frenchmédica
  7. Englishmedical
  8. Proto-Indo-European*ǵeh₂r-
  9. Proto-Germanic*karō
  10. Proto-West Germanic*karu
  11. Old Englishcaru
  12. Middle Englishcare
  13. Englishcare
  14. EnglishMedicare

Blend of medical + care. By surface analysis, medic + -care.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

medicare. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/medicare

MLA

“medicare.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/medicare. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “medicare,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/medicare.

Source: medicare on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.