triage

UK: /ˈtriːɑːʒ/ US: /triˈɑʒ, ˈtriɑʒ/ ,(trē äzh′)

Inflections of 'triage' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

triages

v 3rd person singular

triaging

v pres p

triaged

v past

triaged

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

tri•age /triˈɑʒ, ˈtriɑʒ/   n. 

[uncountable]
1. the process of selecting among victims, as of a battle, to decide in what order to help them with medical treatment:
   In triage doctors usually decide to treat first those victims that have the best chance of surviving, leaving the nearly dead to die.
2. the act of triage.

adj. [before a noun]

3. of or relating to triage:
   a triage officer.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

tri•age  (trē äzh′), n., adj., v., -aged, ag•ing. 
n. 

1. the process of sorting victims, as of a battle or disaster, to determine medical priority in order to increase the number of survivors.
2. the determination of priorities for action in an emergency.

adj. 

3. of, pertaining to, or performing the task of triage:
   a triage officer.

v.t. 

4. to act on or in by triage:
   to triage a crisis.

• French: sorting, equivalent. to tri(er) to sort (see try) + -age -age
• 1925–30

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

triage / ˈtriːˌɑːʒ ˌtriːˈɑːʒ ˈtraɪ-/ noun

1. (in a hospital) the principle or practice of sorting emergency patients into categories of priority for treatment
2. the principle or practice of sorting casualties in battle or disaster into categories of priority for treatment
3. the principle or practice of allocating limited resources, as of food or foreign aid, on a basis of expediency rather than according to moral principles or the needs of the recipients

Etymology: 18th Century (in the sense: sorting (goods) according to quality): from French; see try, -age