Amber Alert

noun

variants or less commonly Amber alert or amber alert

plural Amber Alerts also Amber alerts or amber alerts

US

: a widely publicized bulletin that alerts the public to a recently abducted or missing child

… State Police activated the Amber Alert in search of a male infant who they believed was kidnapped …

—Fall River (Massachusetts) News

State Police put out an Amber alert …

—Travis Andersen

… sends a text message … for emergency alerts (like hurricanes and amber alerts) …

—Greg Ganske

Amber Alerts are issued when a child under 18 is abducted and believed to be in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

—Anthony Maenza

compare blue alert, silver alert

Examples of Amber Alert in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

When the girls were reported missing, the investigation had not met Amber Alert criteria, officials said, but an Endangered Missing Persons Alert had been issued through the Washington State Patrol. —Megan Forrester, ABC News, 27 June 2025

Idaho State Police have issued an Amber Alert for two missing teenagers believed to be headed to a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints group in Utah from eastern Idaho. —Rebekah Reiss, CNN Money, 26 June 2025

Fullmer says authorities issued an Amber Alert on Monday, June 23 after learning of a 2022 revelation by Jeffs. —Christine Pelisek, People.com, 26 June 2025

Law enforcement officials in Jefferson County, Idaho, issued an Amber Alert after 13-year-old Allen Larand Fischer and 15-year-old Rachelle Leray Fischer went missing. —Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

from the U.S. Justice Department AMBER Alert Program that issues such bulletins, originally from Amber Hagerman †1996 U.S. victim of an abduction, later read as an acronym for America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

Amber alert

noun

: a widely publicized bulletin that alerts the public to a recently abducted or missing child

Legal Definition

Amber Alert

noun

: a widely publicized bulletin that alerts the public to a recently abducted or missing child

Etymology

from the U.S. Justice Dept. AMBER Alert Program that issues such bulletins, originally from Amber Hagerman †1996 victim of an abduction, later read as America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response