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:
I have experienced and feel a profound sadness for the Marines who perished in the last ambuscade of the Sandinistas.
From Time Magazine Archive
Only about 700 Legionnaires managed to escape the ambuscade.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
On the other hand, Major Van Horne should have heeded the information he received, that the enemy were in advance, in position, and not allowed his little army to rush into an ambuscade.
From The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2 by Headley, Joel Tyler
The enemy hastened away to Drainsville an overwhelming force, and ambuscaded the road, where it entered the woods, with artillery and men of all arms.
From A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital by Jones, John Beauchamp
Besides, there was Papa Gato ambuscaded somewhere upon the flanks of the great volcano surmounting the pueblo.
From Caybigan by Hopper, James
Then she knew the feeling of the man who finds himself ambuscaded.
From The Beach of Dreams by Stacpoole, H. De Vere (Henry De Vere)
The garrison was beleaguered, foraging-parties assaulted, sorties ambuscaded, and such was the alarm, says the good Bishop Las Casas in his history, that the people feared to be burned within their dwellings.
From Vasco Nu?ez de Balboa by Ober, Frederick Albion
She had been ambuscaded in the street to-day by demons not of faery, but of fact, that had leaped out at her from nowhere.
From The Cup of Fury A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Raleigh, Henry
That boy must be a throw-back, thought the colonel, to the ambuscading, feud-fighting men on his mother’s side.
From The Bondboy by Ogden, George W. (George Washington)
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 Harte, Bret
The thick growth of grass and vines made ambuscading a favorite pastime with the Spaniards.
From History of Negro Soldiers in the Spanish-American War, and Other Items of Interest by Johnson, Edward A. (Edward Austin)
And there they prospered for a blessed time Until Elimelech in his lordly prime, Hasting those cattle-spoilers to pursue, The ambuscading sons of Anak slew.
From A Celtic Psaltery by Graves, Alfred Perceval
Colonel Butler hearing the firing on his right and rear imagined he was discovered, and that instead of ambuscading the rebels, he was himself to be surprised by this unexpected attack in the rear.
From The Journal of Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh of the Second New York Continental Regiment from May 1 to October 3, 1779, in General Sullivan's Campaign Against the Western Indians With an Introduction, Copious Historical Notes, and Maps of the Battle-field of Newtown and Groveland Ambuscade by Hardenbergh, John Leonard
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.
