ambuscade
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ambuscade
1575–85; < Middle French embuscade, alteration (under influence of Old French embuschier; see ambush) of Middle French emboscade < Old Italian imboscata, feminine past participle of imboscare, verbal derivative with in- in- 2 of bosco wood, forest < Germanic *bosk- bush 1
Explanation
An ambuscade is a surprise attack. There's nothing funnier than watching your cat lie in wait behind the couch until your dog wanders over, only to be startled by the cat's ambuscade. While ambuscade is a bit old-fashioned, it's a perfectly good way to say ambush. Soldiers in battle conduct strategic ambuscades, and you may also enjoy using an ambuscade against your brother now and then, leaping out from behind a door to make him jump. It can also be used as a verb: "The dog is surprised every single time the cat ambuscades him."
Vocabulary lists containing ambuscade
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 general belief was that the King was a chance victim of the ambuscade which was intended for the Orchanie-Sofia autobus, occupants of which were known to be carrying large sums of money.
From Time Magazine Archive
He lost three of the next four games before he recovered from the shock of that one intellectual ambuscade.
From Time Magazine Archive
Only about 700 Legionnaires managed to escape the ambuscade.
From Time Magazine Archive
The ambuscade capped a notably disgruntling week for Labor.
From Time Magazine Archive
But when the Buccaneers spread further inland, a body of soldiers was despatched to the coast, to practise a stratagem, and to form an ambuscade.
From The Monarchs of the Main, Volume II (of 3) Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers by Walter Thornbury
He performed well his duties in that position, but was killed on the day preceding the battle of Tupelo, the division to which he belonged having been ambuscaded by Forrest's troops.
From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by William Henry Carman Folsom
Safely ambuscaded, Henderson laid a hand firmly on the child’s arm, resting it there for two or three seconds, as a sign of silence.
From The Backwoodsmen by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
His fleet was ambuscaded and surrounded, and when his men had made their last stand he refused to surrender.
From Peeps at Many Lands: Norway by A. Heaton (Alfred Heaton) Cooper
"Look sharp, John, that there be not others ambuscaded along the bank."
From The Little Red Foot by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
I’ll not see the army ambuscaded without a warning.
From Graham of Claverhouse by Ian Maclaren
We had frequently gone out in small ambuscading parties in hopes of picking off a few of the ladrons, but without any success.
From Los Gringos Or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia by H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise
The gardens and grounds of Haverly Lodge were that night such a terrain as best suits the ambuscading warfare of the small god with the bow and darts.
From Destiny by Charles Neville Buck
I again succeeded in ambuscading them, which caused them to give up the pursuit for the night.
From The Battle of Atlanta and Other Campaigns, Addresses, Etc. by Grenville Mellen Dodge
Before the assemblage could realize this new invasion, a nearer clatter of hoofs was heard along the high road, and one of the ambuscading party dashed up from the fringe of woods below.
From The Bell-Ringer of Angel's by Bret Harte
Re-enforcements came from Holland, and under Calabar's guidance the Dutch learned the value of ambuscading and made sudden expeditions which took the important settlements by surprise.
From The South American Republics Part I of II by Thomas C. Dawson
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.
