• A method of feeling with the hands during a physical examination. The health care provider touches and feels the patient's body to examine the size, consistency, texture, location and tenderness of an organ or body part.
  NCI Thesaurus
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• Application of fingers with light pressure to the surface of the body to determine consistence of parts beneath in physical diagnosis; includes palpation for determining the outlines of organs.
  NLM Medical Subject Headings
  U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
• Examination by pressing on the surface of the body to feel the organs or tissues underneath.
  NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• The act of feeling with the hand.
  ACC/AHA Clinical Data Terminology
  American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association , 2020
• Palpation, medical diagnostic examination with the hands to discover internal abnormalities. By palpation the physician may detect enlargement of an organ, excess fluid in the tissues, a tumour mass, a bone fracture, or, by revealing tenderness, the presence of inflammation (as in appendicitis).
  Encyclopedia Britannica
  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2020