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

Authors on the study found that COVID vaccines were roughly 55% effective in preventing hospitalizations associated with the illness and about 50% effective in decreasing trips to emergency rooms or urgent care facilities. — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 24 June 2026

Expanding access to telehealth, urgent care networks, and pharmacist prescribing authorities can address access barriers while preserving the diagnostic evaluation that distinguishes a bacterial infection from a viral one. — Robert Glatter, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026

The paper looked at adults who visited a hospital or urgent care with symptoms consistent with Covid across seven states from September to December last year. — Aria Bendix, NBC news, 23 June 2026

Nicklaus Children’s also offers post-fracture follow-up with an orthopedic specialist in one of its many locations, including orthopedic clinics, pediatric urgent care facilities, and emergency rooms throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, within just two days. — Jp Shaffer, Miami Herald, 22 June 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