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
The ambuscade capped a notably disgruntling week for Labor.
From Time Magazine Archive
The brown furrows in the fields were now acres of waving yellow; each black clump was now an ambuscade of green, noisy with birds.
From The Truants by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
On the 5th of November the army, misled by treacherous guides and thirst-stricken, was ambuscaded in dense forest at Kashgil, 30 m. south of Obeid.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various
Then she knew the feeling of the man who finds himself ambuscaded.
From The Beach of Dreams by H. De Vere (Henry De Vere) Stacpoole
The next morning they started early to the south, and toiled until eleven o'clock, to find themselves once more ambuscaded by the precipitous hills.
From The Wedge of Gold by C. C. Goodwin
Denvil and his fifteen Pathans had been ambuscaded and outnumbered; and in the cramped space a sharp hand-to-hand encounter was in progress.
From Captain Desmond, V.C. by Maud Diver
Within a month Chinese troops ambuscaded a French column at Bac-Le and the Government decided on a punitive expedition.
From A History of the Third French Republic by C. H. C. (Charles Henry Conrad) Wright
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 John Leonard Hardenbergh
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 Alfred Perceval Graves
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
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 George W. (George Washington) Ogden
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