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

Seek urgent care after a significant injury or if shoulder pain occurs with chest pressure, shortness of breath, sweating or nausea. — Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 3 Nov. 2026

The facility Gills visited doubles as both an emergency room and an urgent care clinic. — Tara Bannow, STAT, 30 Oct. 2026

Rowell arrived at TruHealthNow, an urgent care center in Purcellville, Va. — Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2026

Original Medicare generally doesn’t cover care in Mexico, although some Medicare Advantage plans provide benefits for qualifying emergencies and urgent care abroad. — Lance B. Fulford, Fortune, 25 Oct. 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