Person-centered
adj.kind, thoughtfulprofessional
What it means
Organized around one individual's priorities, choices, circumstances, and dignity.
Reach for it when describing care or planning that gives the person meaningful control
A person-centered review began with Tomas explaining what independence meant to him.
Choose between these
6- everyday
personalized
for an experience tailored using someone's preferences or information
not when Personalized is also used for automated marketing and does not guarantee respectful participation.
- warm
when kindness and concern are the qualities being praised
not when Compassionate care can still be paternalistic rather than led by the person.
- professional
when design begins with the needs and behavior of people generally
not when Human-centered usually addresses a user population, not one person's care and agency.
- professional
individualized
when a service is adjusted to one person's particular requirements
not when Individualized can describe expert customization without giving the recipient any voice.
- professional
if the emphasis is adapting promptly to expressed needs
not when Responsive describes reaction quality but leaves decision-making power unspecified.
- formal
for something made to an individual's specifications
not when Bespoke highlights customization and can carry a luxury flavor absent from care settings.
Said against
3- institution-centered
- impersonal
- paternalistic
It naturally appears in
3- person-centered care
Person-centered care allowed Mei to choose a therapy schedule that fit her work.
- person-centered approach
Their person-centered approach treated the resident as a decision-maker.
- person-centered planning
Person-centered planning turned a standard checklist into goals Priya actually valued.
Where this comes from
The linked dictionary entry grounds the productive '-centered' construction; the care-specific distinction follows established professional usage.
Person-centered is not a headword in the dictionaries below. The sense was checked against their entries for centered, and the definition and example here are written for Person-centered itself.
- wiktionary, the entry for centered, English adjective construction sense: having the specified subject as the focus opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.