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 male victim’s injuries required urgent care due to blood loss, but both victims are reported to be in stable condition. — Megan Fahrney, ABC News, 21 July 2026

These patients end up in costly urgent care centers and crowded emergency rooms which disrupt continuity of care. — Torie Bosch, STAT, 18 July 2026

Fisher went to urgent care after evacuating the office with shortness of breath and vomiting. — Sofia Williams, Sacbee.com, 18 July 2026

Two urgent care clinics said her symptoms were likely related to pregnancy, Bitner recalled. — Toria Sheffield, PEOPLE, 18 July 2026

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