rescue
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free or deliver from confinement, danger, or difficulty: She rescued me from an awkward conversation.
The police were able to rescue the hostages in time.
She rescued me from an awkward conversation.
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Law. to liberate or take by forcible or illegal means from lawful custody.
noun
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the act of rescuing.
- Synonyms:
- emancipation, redemption, release, deliverance, liberation
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the act of rescuing animals from danger, abuse, or neglect, as the adoption of stray and abandoned animals from an animal shelter, or the protection of wild animals in an animal sanctuary.
Animal rescue requires cooperation between animal control agencies and shelters.
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a group or organization that participates in such animal welfare activities: breed-specific rescues.
your local rescue;
breed-specific rescues.
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a domestic animal adopted from an animal shelter or other animal welfare group.
Our new puppy is a rescue!
adjective
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of or relating to someone or something trained or equipped to rescue.
The county's three certified rescue dogs and their handlers searched for earthquake survivors in the rubble.
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of or relating to a domestic animal adopted or available for adoption from an animal shelter or other animal welfare group.
rescue puppies and kittens looking for loving families.
verb
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to bring (someone or something) out of danger, attack, harm, etc; deliver or save
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to free (a person) from legal custody by force
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law to seize (goods or property) by force
noun
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the act or an instance of rescuing
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( as modifier )
a rescue party
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the forcible removal of a person from legal custody
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law the forcible seizure of goods or property
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rescue
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb rescuen, from Old French rescourre, equivalent to re- + escourre “to shake, drive out, remove,” from Latin excutere ( ex- + -cutere, combining form of quatere “to shake”); see origin at re-, ex- 1
Explanation
When you rescue something, you save it from something bad — you come to the rescue. If Muffin, your kitten, is stuck in a tree, you can get out your ladder and climb up to rescue her. A rescue is a good thing, much appreciated by people (and kittens). If your house is in foreclosure, you'd be very grateful for the uncle who comes to your rescue by paying your mortgage. Whenever there's an earthquake or other disaster, rescue operations are quickly put in place to find survivors. You can use the word more casually, as in describing how you saunter over at a cocktail party and rescue your friend from a conversation with an insufferable bore.
Vocabulary lists containing rescue
Beowulf vocabulary
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"Enabling or Disabling?" and "This I Believe"
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"One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia, List 3
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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.
About 90,000 gallons of the chemical is left in the tank and remains unstable, complicating recovery efforts, said Scott Goldstein, chief of Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
Specialist boat units from Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service had been searching Pickmere Lake, between Knutsford and Northwich, from about 16:50 BST on Tuesday.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
Rescue teams rushed to the scene but struggled to reach the upper floors because of the scale of the damage and congestion in the area.
From BBC • May 26, 2026
Brothers to the Rescue was founded in May 1991 after the death of 15-year-old Gregorio Pérez Ricardo, a Cuban refugee who died in 1990 attempting to flee Fidel Castro’s Cuba from Florida on a raft.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
If you looked closely, you could find the stories of the Lady of Mercy, the Rescue at Dead Man’s Rock, and his love affair with the cold and perilous Lady Delune.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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.
