ambush
noun/ˈæmbʊʃ/
/ˈæmbʊʃ/
[countable, uncountable]- the act of hiding and waiting for somebody and then making a surprise attack on them
- Two soldiers were killed in a terrorist ambush.
- They were lying in ambush, waiting for the aid convoy.
- The government was defeated in its attempt to pass the law by an opposition ambush.
Extra ExamplesTopics War and conflictc2- We ran into an ambush in the valley.
- The soldiers set up an ambush on the road.
- They staged an ambush on an army patrol.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- deadly
- enemy
- lay
- prepare
- set up
- …
- take place
- in an/the ambush
- ambush on
- lie in ambush
- wait in ambush
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘place troops in hiding in order to surprise an enemy’): from Old French embusche (noun), embuschier (verb), based on a late Latin word meaning ‘to place in a wood’; related to bush.
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