ambulance
Americannoun
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a specially equipped motor vehicle, airplane, ship, etc., for carrying sick or injured people, usually to a hospital.
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(formerly) a field hospital.
noun
Etymology
Origin of ambulance
1800–10; < French, equivalent to ( hôpital ) ambul ( ant ) walking (hospital) + -ance -ance. See ambulant
Explanation
An ambulance is an emergency vehicle that transports people to the hospital in emergencies. If you see that someone's been injured in a car accident, it's a good idea to call an ambulance. People who are terribly sick, or who are unexpectedly hurt or injured, often need to get to a hospital quickly, and this is what an ambulance is for. As the patient is driven to a hospital, with the ambulance's lights flashing and siren sounding, he or she is often treated by an emergency medical technician. The word comes from the French phrase hôpital ambulant, or "walking hospital," from the Latin ambulare, "to walk."
Vocabulary lists containing ambulance
Walk the Walk: Amb
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English Words Derived from French, List 2
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National Nurses Week: Tasks and Equipment
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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.
It was October 2024, when Jayme from New Pitsligo made the trip by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where she was rushed into surgery.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
It added she had been transferred by ambulance to a hospital in Tehran "to be treated by her own medical team".
From Barron's • May 10, 2026
And it alleges that paramedics who responded to the crash with the private ambulance company American Medical Response treated the deputy and transported him before attending to Fox’s and Hinkley’s more serious injuries.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
On the day Preston died, at around 18:25, paramedic Simon Crabb was outside the ambulance bay and saw Varley running with a "floppy" baby in his arms, and told him the child was not breathing.
From BBC • May 5, 2026
Ti Fifi got on the phone and hired a private ambulance company in Port-au-Prince—Sam’s Service Ambulance—which owned a shiny old recycled ambulance from the 1970s.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
