white coat hypertension

noun

Elevated blood pressure measured by a medical practitioner and deemed to result from the patient's emotional response to the medical environment.

Meanings

nounwhite coat hypertension (uncountable)

alternative white-coat hypertension · alternative whitecoat hypertension

  1. idiomaticuncountablehuman sciencesElevated blood pressure measured by a medical practitioner and deemed to result from the patient's emotional response to the medical environment.
    1 more example

    Patients with white coat hypertension did not show a generalized increase of blood pressure lability, nor an exaggerated pressor response while at work. . . . In such patients, the pressor response may be relatively specific to the physician's office and lead to significant misclassification of hypertension.

    1988 January 8, T. G. Pickering et al., “How common is white coat hypertension?”, in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

    Synonyms: white coat effect, white coat syndrome, white coat high blood pressure

Synonyms & antonyms

nounElevated blood pressure measured by a medical practitioner and deemed to result from the patient's emotional response to the medical environment.

Origin

From white coat + hypertension, due to the typical uniform of a medical practitioner.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 白大衣高血壓 /白大衣高血压
  • 白大衣高血壓 /白大衣高血压 (báidàyī gāoxuèyā)elevated blood pressure
Finnish valkotakkiverenpaine
  • valkotakkiverenpaineelevated blood pressure
French hypertension de la blouse blanche
  • hypertension de la blouse blancheelevated blood pressure
Polish efekt białego fartucha
  • efekt białego fartuchaelevated blood pressure
Russian гипертензи́я «бе́лых хала́тов», синдром «белого халата»
  • гипертензи́я «бе́лых хала́тов»elevated blood pressure
  • синдром «белого халата»elevated blood pressure
Cite this entry
APA

white coat hypertension. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20coat%20hypertension

MLA

“white coat hypertension.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20coat%20hypertension. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “white coat hypertension,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20coat%20hypertension.

Source: white coat hypertension on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.