Entry Word: ambush

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 a scheme in which hidden persons wait to attack by surprise <revolutionaries laid an ambush for the king along the route his carriage would travel>

Synonyms ambuscade, surprise, trap

Related Words assault, attack, charge, sally; capture, entrapment, snare; hunting, stalking

2 a device or scheme for capturing another by surprise <thinking that he was getting into his assigned limousine, the diplomat did not realize that he was the victim of an ambush as he was being lured into his captorʼs car> — see trap 1