urgent care

noun

1

: medical care provided for illnesses or injuries which require prompt attention but are typically not of such seriousness as to require the services of an emergency room

… they have turned to one of the fastest-growing segments of American health care: urgent care, a common category of walk-in clinics with uncommon interest from Wall Street.

—Julie Creswell

—often used before another noun

If your leg or arm is sore and swollen, go to an urgent care center; if you have chest pain, shortness of breath or you're coughing up blood, get to an emergency room.

—Rick Nathanson

The athlete sustains an inversion or eversion ankle injury and is evaluated at a local emergency room or urgent care facility.

—James S. Keene

2

: medical care of an urgent nature

Strokes now are the focus of a broad new public-awareness campaign labeling them as "brain attacks," needing the same urgent care as heart attacks.

—Marilyn Chase

Examples of urgent care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Applebaum ran a clinic, Terem, that provided urgent care in an ultra-Orthodox community; Qasem Hassan started working there on Saturdays, when Jewish staff observed the Sabbath. —Eyal Press, New Yorker, 9 June 2025

Plasencia, who operated an urgent care clinic in Malibu, had been set to go on trial in August in the case. —Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 16 June 2025

According to the plea agreement, Plasencia was the owner and operator of an urgent care clinic, Malibu Canyon Urgent Care, in Malibu. —Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2025

An urgent care doctor told Chambasis to put Vaseline in her nose, then sent her on her home. —Johnny Dodd, People.com, 15 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for urgent care

• aftercare
• anywhere
• billionaire
• chinaware
• debonair
• dinnerware
• disrepair
• doctrinaire
• earthenware
• everywhere
• frigidaire
• kitchenware