medevac

American  

[med-uh-vak] / ˈmɛd əˌvæk /

Or Medevac,

noun

1. a helicopter for evacuating the wounded from a battlefield.

2. an ambulance or other vehicle equipped for emergency transport of medical patients.

3. any of the trained personnel transporting or otherwise tending to the sick or wounded in a medevac.

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verb (used with object)

medevacked, medevacking

1. to transport (sick or wounded persons) by medevac.

medevac British  

/ ˈmɛdɪˌvæk /

noun

1. military the evacuation of casualties from forward areas to the nearest hospital or base

2. a helicopter used for transporting wounded or sick people to hospital

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verb

1. (tr) to transport (a wounded or sick person) to hospital by medevac

Etymology

Origin of medevac

1965–70, med(ical) evac(uation) ; presumably by ellipsis from medevac helicopter

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

medevac medevacked

The cost of a medevac helicopter was in the tens of thousands of dollars.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

I flew down immediately and found a medevac plane to fly her home to Portland.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security said that García was not among those being pursued and that federal agents called in a medevac for him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2025

Then Saturday night, as long as Seamus Heaney is still alive, we’ll medevac him over from Ireland, and he’ll read his poetry.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

“They’re taking him over to Lester Krebb’s field, where they’ve got a medevac helicopter coming,” the policeman told me.

From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings

His sister, Christina Henderson, told Australian news outlets that her brother had been medevacked from Laos when a cancerous condition worsened.

From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2023

By nightfall, he’d been medevacked nearly 1,500 miles to Seattle Children’s hospital after X-rays located a grapefruit-sized malignant tumor growing on the right side of his brain.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 30, 2022

"We were told there was a child being medevacked to Tampa General, but he was not expected to live," Blair said in a video shared by the sheriff’s office.

From Fox News ● Jul. 28, 2021

I have sometimes felt wobbly after an interview, but not until my hour with Jackson had I felt the need to be medevacked to safety.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2019

“But in a couple days, I had convulsions and collapsed. After this, they medevacked me to hospitals in Saudi Arabia and Germany, and then to the U.S.”

From Newsweek ● Mar. 27, 2015