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

Mares-Sedillo immediately called a medical professional for advice and drove herself to urgent care as her eye seemingly got worse by the minute. —Meredith Wilshere, PEOPLE, 7 Sep. 2025

The photos were not taken at an OB/GYN clinic, Sutter Health said, clarifying they were taken at Sansum’s urgent care clinic in Santa Barbara. —Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025

VillageMD, which was sold to private equity firm Sycamore Partners last week in the $10 billion takeover of Walgreens, has hundreds of physician practices, outpatient health centers, urgent care sites and clinics adjacent to Walgreens stores. —Bruce Japsen, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025

There was no other option than to get to urgent care first thing in the morning. —Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Aug. 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