Word.ws English Dictionary

ambo

UK/ˈæm.bəʊ/

ambo noun: a raised platform in an early Christian church, as well as in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches.

Noun (1)

ambo (plural ambos or ambones)

  1. A raised platform in an early Christian church, as well as in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches.
    • ‘It will get settled somehow,’ he thought, and went to the ambo. On going up the steps and turning to the right he saw the priest.1918 [1878], chapter 1, in Aylmer and Louise Maude, transl., Anna Karenina, Cambridge: Oxford University Press, translation of Анна Каренина (Anna Karenina) by Leo Tolstoy, →OCLC, part 5, page 4
    • the Emperor arrived and instead of moving directly to his seat climbed to the top level of the ambo, the great three-decker pulpit of polychrome marble.1997, John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium, Penguin, published 1998, page 150
  2. A stationary podium used for readings and homilies.
    • The dignity of the Word of God requires that in the church there be a suitable place from which it may be proclaimed and toward which the attention of the faithful naturally turns during the Liturgy of the Word. It is appropriate that generally this place be a stationary ambo and not simply a...2010, General Instruction of the Roman Missal, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, published 2011, section #309

Noun (2)

ambo (plural ambos)

  1. (informal) An ambulance driver.
  2. (informal) An ambulance.
    • Rawls: I don't want the fuckin' reporters seeing any ambos. Shit.2004 Dec. 19, David Simon & al., "Mission Accomplished", The Wire, Season 3, Episode 12, 00:31:54

Noun (3)

ambo (plural ambos)

  1. (slang) An ambassador.
    • The Ambo needed a sizable embassy support staff to hold his hand at every step of the way, […]2022, Susan Gillerman Boggs, Journey Across Time: A Diplomatic Spouse in South Asia

ambo meaning in Indonesian and Vietnamese

ambo in Indonesian

stationary podium
ambo

ambo in Vietnamese

stationary podium
giảng đài

Forms of ambo

pluralambos
pluralambones

Origin of ambo

Borrowed from Late Latin ambō, from Ancient Greek ἄμβων (ámbōn).

Clipping of ambulance + -o.

Clipping of ambassador + -o.

Phrases with ambo

Words that rhyme with ambo

Questions about ambo

What does ambo mean?
Ambo means a raised platform in an early Christian church, as well as in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches.
What is ambo in Indonesian?
Ambo in Indonesian is ambo. See Ambo meaning in Indonesian.
What part of speech is ambo?
Ambo is a noun.
How do you pronounce ambo?
Ambo is pronounced /ˈæm.bəʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of ambo?
The plural of ambo is ambos.

Words near ambo in the dictionary

  1. amblypygid
  2. amblypygids
  3. amblystegiaceous
  4. amblystomid
  5. amblystomids
  6. ambo
  7. ambo-
  8. amboceptoid
  9. amboceptoids
  10. amboceptor
  11. amboceptors

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ambo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ambo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ambo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.