ambush
/ˈæm.bʊʃ/
ambush noun: the act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise.
Noun
ambush (countable and uncountable, plural ambushes)
- The act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise.
- An attack launched from a concealed position.
- Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege / Or ambush from the deep.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- The concealed position or state from which a surprise attack is launched.
- the Georgean hills,
Whoſe tops are couered with Tartarian theeues,
That lie in ambuſh, waiting for a pray:c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - Therefore, why not wait in ambush for Conrad behind the door, and when he entered bring down a chair, or one of the decrepit pictures, smartly on to his head.1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 17”, in The Secret Adversary
- the Georgean hills,
- The troops posted in a concealed place, for attacking by surprise; those who lie in wait.
- And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ranne as soone as he had stretched out his hand: and they entred into the city, and tooke it, and hasted, and set the citie on fire.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 8:19
- A group of tigers.
- “Having Chris Palmer part of this ambush of tigers is so exciting. He brings the experience and creative juices, but most of all, the passion and fun we all love about this job,” says Braun.2026 July 21, Madison Hahnen, “Chris Palmer Joins Triple Tigers Records/AKANDO Music”, in Music Row
- He outwits a positive ambush of tigers who want to eat him up and take his beautiful new clothes1973, Joan E. Cass, Books for the Under Fives, National Book League, page 6
- Synonyms:
- streak
Verb
ambush (third-person singular simple present ambushes, present participle ambushing, simple past and past participle ambushed)
- To station in ambush with a view to surprise an enemy.
- By ambuſh’d men, behind their Temple laid, / VVe have the King of Mexico betray’d.1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act I...
- To attack by ambush; to waylay.
- The contrast with the start was profound. In the opening 40 minutes Löw’s team had been ambushed here, the world champions run into a state of breathless trauma by a thrillingly vibrant Mexico attack.2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived...
ambush meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
ambush in Tamil
- பதுங்கி இருத்தல், பதுங்கித் தாக்குதல், பதிதாக்கல், பதிதாக்கு
ambush in Marathi
- घातपात
ambush in Urdu
- گھات
ambush in Bengali
- অতর্কিত আক্রমণ করা
More languagesFewer languages
- ambush in Malayalam
- പതിഞ്ഞിരുന്നുള്ള ആക്രമണം
- ambush in Kannada
- ತಾಗುಡಿ, ಹೊಂಚುದಾಣ
- ambush in Punjabi
- ਘਾਤ ghātă, ਥੜ੍ਹਾ thaṛhā
- ambush in Odia
- ଅତର୍କିତ ଆକ୍ରମଣ କରିବା
- ambush in Nepali
- घात लगाउनुहोस्
- ambush in Pashto
- پسونی pasúnaj
- ambush in Tagalog
- abatan
- ambush in Arabic
- كَمين, كَمِين kamīn
- ambush in Malay
- sergap, serangan hendap
- ambush in Indonesian
- sergapan
- ambush in Persian
- کمین kamin
- ambush in Thai
- ดักรอ, ซุ่มโจมตี
Examples of ambush in a sentence
- I lay in ambush, waiting for my victims.
- The platoon walked into an ambush.
- The diapers forces are running and crying like little girls as they were ambushed by Hezb fighters.
Synonyms of ambush
Forms of ambush
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ambushes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ambushes |
| present participle | ambushing |
| past participle | ambushed |
| past | ambushed |
Origin of ambush
From Middle English enbuschen, from Old French enbuscier, anbuchier (verb) (whence Middle French embusche (noun)), from Old French en- + Vulgar Latin boscus (“wood”) (whence also bouquet), from Frankish *busk (“bush”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, heavy stick”). Compare ambuscade. The change to am- from earlier forms in en- is unexplained. More at bush.
Words formed from ambush
Phrases with ambush
Questions about ambush
- What does ambush mean?
- Ambush means the act of concealing oneself and lying in wait to attack or kill by surprise.
- What is ambush in Tamil?
- Ambush in Tamil is பதுங்கி இருத்தல், பதுங்கித் தாக்குதல், பதிதாக்கல். See Ambush meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ambush?
- Ambush can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ambush?
- Ambush is pronounced /ˈæm.bʊʃ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ambush?
- The plural of ambush is ambushes.
Words near ambush in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ambush (page history and authors); ambush (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ambush (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ambush (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ambush (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ambush (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ambush (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਘਾਤ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ambush (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ambush (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); پسونی (Pashto) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ambush.wav.
Cite this entry: “ambush.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ambush. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.