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
How does an ambulance driver and a school coach afford pricy ski vacations?
—
Greg Evans, Deadline, 18 Nov. 2024
From their house, Michael and Beth heard the ambulance drive away without the sirens on and rushed over to be at Neda’s side.
—Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 12 Nov. 2024
With Alexis and Diamond following behind in the pickup, the ambulance carrying Onyxx arrived at the emergency room of Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center at 6:43 a.m.
—Audrey Dutton, ProPublica, 11 Nov. 2024
Several blocks away, near 60th and Burleigh, police said the man wanted in the shooting crashed his car into an ambulance that was transporting the 30-year-old victim.
—Chris Ramirez, Journal Sentinel, 6 Nov. 2024
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Greg Evans, Deadline, 18 Nov. 2024
From their house, Michael and Beth heard the ambulance drive away without the sirens on and rushed over to be at Neda’s side.
—Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 12 Nov. 2024
With Alexis and Diamond following behind in the pickup, the ambulance carrying Onyxx arrived at the emergency room of Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center at 6:43 a.m.
—Audrey Dutton, ProPublica, 11 Nov. 2024
Several blocks away, near 60th and Burleigh, police said the man wanted in the shooting crashed his car into an ambulance that was transporting the 30-year-old victim.
—Chris Ramirez, Journal Sentinel, 6 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ambulance
Dictionary Entries Near ambulance
Cite this Entry
“Ambulance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambulance. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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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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