Word.ws English Dictionary

ambulance chaser

ambulance chaser noun: an unethical attorney who solicits business at the scenes of accidents or in hospitals, in exchange for a percentage of the damages that will be recovered in the case.

Noun

ambulance chaser (plural ambulance chasers)

  1. (derogatory) An unethical attorney who solicits business at the scenes of accidents or in hospitals, in exchange for a percentage of the damages that will be recovered in the case.
    • You know nothing about the law. You're a used-car salesman, Daniel. You're an ambulance chaser with a rank. You're nothing. Live with that.1992, Aaron Sorkin, A Few Good Men, spoken by Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore)
    • Republicans have tried to cast him as a millionaire ambulance chaser, the kind of man who forces doctors and businesses to pay ever higher liability-insurance costs.2004 July 19, Richard Lacayo, “Court and Spark: Edwards' Legal Career”, in Time
  2. (broadly) An attorney who engages in unethical behavior.
  3. (derogatory) An unethical funeral director or person who engages in the unlicensed sale of services to those who do not yet require them in an attempt to increase business.

Forms of ambulance chaser

pluralambulance chasers

Origin of ambulance chaser

The origins of this phrase date from 1897, from newspaper articles about attorneys seeking clients through targeted mail solicitation. “Ambulance chasing” was one of the descriptive phrases employed by the media for this activity. It later became a derogatory term for direct advertising.

Questions about ambulance chaser

What does ambulance chaser mean?
Ambulance chaser means an unethical attorney who solicits business at the scenes of accidents or in hospitals, in exchange for a percentage of the damages that will be recovered in the case.
What part of speech is ambulance chaser?
Ambulance chaser is a noun.
What is the plural of ambulance chaser?
The plural of ambulance chaser is ambulance chasers.

Words near ambulance chaser in the dictionary

  1. ambulacriform
  2. ambulacrum
  3. ambulacrums
  4. ambulance
  5. ambulance at the bottom of a cliff
  6. ambulance chaser
  7. ambulance chasers
  8. ambulance chasing
  9. ambulance cover
  10. ambulance covers
  11. ambulance train

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ambulance chaser (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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