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 doctors, who all work for the Allina Health chain of hospitals, health clinics and urgent care sites, are seeking higher compensation, smaller workloads and more support staff. —Patrick Aguilar, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2025

But the urgent care was closed. —Abigail Adams, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025

Maybe this works fine — until that kid leaves home to go to college or work and ends up in an urgent care in the middle of the night with raging flu symptoms or a broken wrist. —Dr. Jill Grimes, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025

Before thermometers and urgent care, white rum rubbed on the forehead or chest was a fever fix; a splash on a new building’s foundation was a blessing for protection. —Gina Pace, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 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