Definition of "triage" []

• A process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated. (noun)
• A system used to allocate a scarce commodity, such as food, only to those capable of deriving the greatest benefit from it. (noun)
• A process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority: "For millions of Americans, each week becomes a stressful triage between work and home that leaves them feeling guilty, exhausted and angry” ( Jill Smolowe). (noun)
• To sort or allocate by triage: triaged the patients according to their symptoms. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "OSBORN: Now, Mr. Langford, we've heard the term triage a lot this morning."
• "For the last six years, we've been repairing these barracks in keeping what I call triage on them so that they're safe, clean, and livable, but they're certainly not the barracks we want these great soldiers to live in."
• "GENERAL RICHARD CODY, U.S. ARMY VICE CHIEF OF S.AFF: For the last six years, we have been repairing these barracks and keeping what I call triage on them, so that they're safe, clean and livable."