ambush
Americannoun
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an act or instance of lying concealed so as to attack by surprise.
The highwaymen waited in ambush near the road.
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an act or instance of attacking unexpectedly from a concealed position.
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the concealed position itself.
They fired from ambush.
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those who attack suddenly and unexpectedly from a concealed position.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the act of waiting in a concealed position in order to launch a surprise attack
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a surprise attack from such a position
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the concealed position from which such an attack is launched
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the person or persons waiting to launch such an attack
verb
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to lie in wait (for)
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(tr) to attack suddenly from a concealed position
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ambushsimple
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ambushessimple
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have ambushedperfect
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has ambushedperfect
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am ambushingprogressive
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are ambushingprogressive
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is ambushingprogressive
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have been ambushingperfect progressive
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has been ambushingperfect progressive
Past
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ambushedsimple
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had ambushedperfect
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was ambushingprogressive
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were ambushingprogressive
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had been ambushingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ambush
1250–1300; (v.) Middle English enbuss ( h ) en < Middle French embuschier to place men in ambush, literally, to set in the woods, equivalent to em- im- 1 + busch- (< Vulgar Latin *busca wood, forest < Germanic *busk- heavy stick) + -ier infinitive suffix; (noun) earlier enbusshe < Middle French embusche, derivative of the v.
Explanation
An ambush is a sneak attack. To ambush your enemy, hide and wait for him to come near and then pounce on him. In war or in backyards, an ambush is a great way to surprise someone. Ambush comes from a Latin word meaning “to place in a wood,” and hiding in the woods behind a tree is a classic starting point for an ambush. The actual attack is called an ambush, but ambush is also a verb, so you can ambush your mom by dropping water balloons on her head from a tree. Please don’t tell her where you got that idea.
Vocabulary lists containing ambush
Animal Farm
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"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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"In the Spotlight," Vocabulary from the informational text
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Its fantastical elements, from the ambush on Troy led by Matt Damon’s Odysseus to a giant cyclops that gobbles his men in a cave, were created primarily with physical effects for a more visceral impact.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Growing to around 1 meter in length, the fish was likely an ambush predator that hunted smaller animals in freshwater systems.
From Science Daily ● May 25, 2026
Here, though, it suffered a second ambush before eventually being able to reunite with the convoy.
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
Czesław is an ethnic Pole in the Red Army who escaped a ruthless German ambush.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
I do sleep, but in the morning I'm extra-cautious, thinking that while the Careers might hesitate to attack me in a tree, they're completely capable of setting an ambush for me.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
AFP spoke to his former business partner, ex-major Omar Rodriguez, who said that after a few desert ambushes last year, Quijano "paused" the operation.
From Barron's ● Dec. 21, 2025
Yet so much can derail them: fractured supply chains, staff blowups, quirks of locations and traffic, social media ambushes, even the unexpected, like COVID.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
"He was very good at setting up ambushes," one of Makenga's fellow RPF fighters told the Rift Valley Institute non-profit research organisation.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2025
And as climate change supercharges more storms, fires, earthquakes, and other inevitable tragedies throughout this year and beyond, prepare to have to deal with these ambushes as well.
From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2025
Over the next month they often teamed up on ambushes.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
It was a safe haven from the Germans, who feared being ambushed by the Resistance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Two batters later, Hernández ambushed a first-pitch slider.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
He backed Ramaphosa when the president was ambushed by US President Donald Trump during a showdown in the White House last year.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
In one foray, led by Miller, the small party of raiders was ambushed by 80 Spanish troops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The turtle, the dead-end channel, the cliff...Hazel got the feeling this was not the first time the letter writer had ambushed a ship here.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
The turtles mainly hunt by hiding under water and ambushing their prey, he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
We’ve all seen the appalling videos of masked agents ambushing and abducting these migrants in the halls of New York’s immigration court as they’re leaving a hearing.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2026
Victor Caratini led off the top of the fifth, ambushing a first-pitch fastball and sending it over the wall in right-center for a solo homer and a 3-0 lead.
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024
That episode occurred one inning after Acuña hammered the ball harder than anyone has all season, ambushing a 3-0 fastball by rookie Emmet Sheehan that left the yard at 121.4 mph.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2023
The young bounced around the adults, ambushing one another, rolling in mock battle, and shrieking for protection when an older animal lost patience and bared its teeth.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
