ambulance
noun
am·bu·lance
ˈam-byə-lən(t)s 
-bə-
also -ˌlan(t)s
: a vehicle equipped for transporting the injured or sick
Examples of ambulance in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The woman, who has not been identified, was later seen on a gurney inside an ambulance with medical personnel.
—
Ashley Carnahan, FOXNews.com, 29 Dec. 2025
After the fall, Maxwell said the family performed CPR on Isobel until an ambulance arrived.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 28 Dec. 2025
Jumping in the back of the ambulance with his neighbor, Eads made a snap decision.
—Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Dec. 2025
Limited information was available about the Wednesday incident, but West Metro officials said members of the agency’s technical team hiked up the trail to carry the unidentified patient out to a waiting ambulance.
—Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 24 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ambulance
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Ashley Carnahan, FOXNews.com, 29 Dec. 2025
After the fall, Maxwell said the family performed CPR on Isobel until an ambulance arrived.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 28 Dec. 2025
Jumping in the back of the ambulance with his neighbor, Eads made a snap decision.
—Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Dec. 2025
Limited information was available about the Wednesday incident, but West Metro officials said members of the agency’s technical team hiked up the trail to carry the unidentified patient out to a waiting ambulance.
—Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 24 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ambulance
Cite this Entry
“Ambulance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambulance. Accessed 31 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ambulance
noun
am·bu·lance
ˈam-byə-lən(t)s
: a vehicle that is equipped for transporting the injured or the sick
Etymology
from French ambulance "field hospital," from (hôpital) ambulant, literally "traveling hospital," derived from Latin ambulare "to walk" — related to amble
Word Origin
When the term ambulance first came into use, it did not refer to a vehicle. To meet the urgent needs of the wounded during war, the French about 200 years ago set up temporary movable hospitals close to the battlefields. They called such a hospital hôpital ambulant, meaning literally "walking hospital." The French adjective ambulant can be traced back to the Latin verb ambulare, meaning "to walk." In time the French dropped the word hôpital from the phrase and changed the adjective to the noun ambulance. This word was also later applied to the wagon used for transporting the wounded to the field hospital. Before long, the word ambulance came to be used for civilian temporary hospitals set up during emergencies and also for the vehicles used to take the sick and injured to the hospital. English borrowed the word from French to refer to such vehicles.
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