ambulance
Americannoun
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ambulances
plural
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a specially equipped motor vehicle, airplane, ship, etc., for carrying sick or injured people, usually to a hospital.
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(formerly) a field hospital.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ambulance
1800–10; < French, equivalent to ( hôpital ) ambul ( ant ) walking (hospital) + -ance -ance. See ambulant
Explanation
An ambulance is an emergency vehicle that transports people to the hospital in emergencies. If you see that someone's been injured in a car accident, it's a good idea to call an ambulance. People who are terribly sick, or who are unexpectedly hurt or injured, often need to get to a hospital quickly, and this is what an ambulance is for. As the patient is driven to a hospital, with the ambulance's lights flashing and siren sounding, he or she is often treated by an emergency medical technician. The word comes from the French phrase hôpital ambulant, or "walking hospital," from the Latin ambulare, "to walk."
Vocabulary lists containing ambulance
Walk the Walk: Amb
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English Words Derived from French, List 2
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National Nurses Week: Tasks and Equipment
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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:
The first witness, Garry Dale, a Las Vegas Metro police officer, testified that he saw Shakur pulled out of the car with gunshot wounds and rode in the ambulance with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Hundreds of messages were sent across 10 days on the pager network by ambulance trusts, hospitals and fire services.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Metropolitan Police were called to an address in south London on Friday afternoon by the ambulance service where they found a 41-year-old man dead at the scene, according to the BBC.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The ambulance service in the West Midlands region, including Stourbridge and Staffordshire, said it had treated 68 people Thursday with symptoms such as smoke inhalation, 25 of whom were hospitalised.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
I'd been waiting patiently for something to happen, and it wasn't fair for them to herd me away just to make room for some alleged fire truck or ambulance.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
One company even approached me about helping build an AI system to dispatch ambulances, which made me uncomfortable.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
An AFP photographer saw several ambulances heading to the scene, where a main thoroughfare had been closed to traffic.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
"We're not about stopping ambulances being sent to patients, we're more about getting the right help to the patient at the right time," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
"I saw ambulances and rescue vehicles everywhere. I didn't know what to do. I just sat there stunned for a while."
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
“Myrt, there’s two ambulances gone to the Clutters’.”
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
