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

The findings also showed that chronic pain patients who used cannabis reported fewer visits to urgent care centers and hospital emergency departments (EDs). —A.j. Herrington, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025

Hope whoever eats that pork has a strong stomach or a dependable urgent care location. —David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 21 July 2025

The discovery led Priscilla to get urgent care for a serious health condition that had previously been overlooked because of her obvious fitness. —David Epstein, ProPublica, 18 July 2025

The center offers a multispecialty clinic, an imaging center and walk-in urgent care services staffed by Providence Mission Heritage physician partners. —Samantha Gowen, Oc Register, 14 July 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