Meanings
plural the good doctors
- countableidiomaticuncountableAn honorific for a doctor, especially for a doctor of medicine (a physician) or for Dr. Samuel Johnson.
We are presented with the orthodox view of the good Doctor as Tory Anglican, enemy of Whig and radical, Catholic and dissenter, alike.
2014, Jonathan Bate (13 December 2014), "Samuel Johnson: A Life by David Nokes: review", Daily Telegraph (UK) (retrieved 2017-10-22; archived from the original 2017-03-21)4 more examples
The technique in the rendition of the texture of the robes is there, but the face is painted in so low a color key as to give the impression that the good doctor has been undergoing the nitrate of silver treatment.
1910, "Penn. Academy display", American Art News 8(16):4–6 (29 January 1910) - via JSTOR, page 6, column 4In 1746, some months after his 36th birthday, Samuel Johnson, that great literary figure of the 18th century, affectionately referred to as the Good Doctor, began work on his monumental Dictionary of the English Language.
2005, Beryl Bainbridge (1 April 2005), "Words count", Guardian (UK) (retrieved 2017-10-23; archived from the original 2017-04-23)It’s lucky for you he got himself assassinated before the good Pope’s Vatican’s ratline and America’s CIA high level Nazi SS scientists lifelines who operatively could smuggle him along with his two pals Eichmann and the good doctor Mengele, the SS Angel of Death, to Argentina.
2011, Arthur T. White (2011), The 2012 Black Hole Killer, Bloomington, Indiana, USA: AuthorHouse, page 275Well, almost no one: according to one story, a polite lady commended the good doctor for not including swear words in the dictionary. “I see you have been looking for them,” he is said to have replied.
2015, R.L.G. Berlin (15 April 2015), "Happy birthday to Johnson's dictionary", Economist, (retrieved 2017-10-23; archived from the original 2016-04-15)
Cite this entry
the good doctor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20good%20doctor
“the good doctor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20good%20doctor. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “the good doctor,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/the%20good%20doctor.
Source: the good doctor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.