ambush
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ambuushSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæmbʊʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise
An attack launched from a concealed position.
The troops posted in a concealed place, for attacking by surprise; those who lie in wait.
verb
Wait in hiding to attack
transitive
To attack by ambush; to waylay.
transitive
To station in ambush with a view to surprise an enemy.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise
Used this way, ambush is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Nearby words
- ambuscade , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.