EMS

American  

abbreviation

1. emergency medical service.

2. Digital Technology. enhanced message service: a system for sending long or formatted text messages, images, music, etc., from one cell phone to another.

3. European Monetary System.

4. express mail service: an international service offered by the postal operators of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

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EMS ¹ British  

abbreviation

1. European Monetary System

2. enhanced messaging service: a system used for sending text messages containing special text formatting, animations, etc, to and from mobile phones

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Ems ² British  

/ ɛmz /

noun

1. a town in W Germany, in the Rhineland-Palatinate: famous for the Ems Telegram (1870), Bismarck's dispatch that led to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. Pop: 9666 (2003 est)

2. a river in W Germany, rising in the Teutoburger Wald and flowing generally north to the North Sea. Length: about 370 km (230 miles)

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Example Sentences

Because EMS lacks familiar markers for exhaustion—it’s hard to gauge effort with involuntary muscle contractions—people can unwittingly overdo it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

Iron Bodyfit, a French firm with international EMS franchises, plans to open more than 50 U.S. studios within the next three years.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

Next up: electrical muscle stimulation, or EMS, where people wear damp suits covered with electrodes that zap their major muscle groups simultaneously for about 20 minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

For some EMS is their sole workout, for others it fits into a broader fitness regimen.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

Outside, kids waiting to board their buses formed an aisle that led to the rear of the EMS unit.

From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman