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as in trap
a device or scheme for capturing another by surprise
thinking that he was getting into his assigned limousine, the diplomat did not realize that he was the victim of an ambush as he was being lured into his captor's car
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to attack
to lie in wait for and attack by surprise
the king's enemies planned to ambush the royal coach on the way to Paris and capture the king
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ambush
Nick Penzenstadler, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2026
Staff Sergeant Gregory Foster was a Green Beret deployed to Afghanistan when he was injured in an ambush in 2011 and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with valor for bravery.
—Shelley Bortz, CBS News, 13 Apr. 2026
Callum Sutherland, Time, 10 Apr. 2026
Wolf spiders ambush on the ground at night.
—Matthew Cordes, The Conversation, 6 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ambush
Noun
Setting up an ambush The report described the timeline leading up to the attack and where the shooter obtained his weapons.
—Nick Penzenstadler, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2026
Staff Sergeant Gregory Foster was a Green Beret deployed to Afghanistan when he was injured in an ambush in 2011 and was awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with valor for bravery.
—Shelley Bortz, CBS News, 13 Apr. 2026
Verb
Israel’s offensive, which lasted just over a month, was largely seen as a success for Hezbollah, with the militant group holding off Israeli advances and ambushing troops in the south of the country.
—Callum Sutherland, Time, 10 Apr. 2026
Wolf spiders ambush on the ground at night.
—Matthew Cordes, The Conversation, 6 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for ambush
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ambush
Noun
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As shown in The Athletic’s match dashboard below, City might have had more of the ball, but Arsenal created some excellent opportunities with an attack-minded approach at the Etihad.—
Mark Carey,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2026
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Both Hezbollah and Israel have have defended their attacks and claimed that the other has violated the ceasefire.—
Sarah Dean,
NBC news,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The Spain midfielder fed a superb pass forward to beat the hosts’ offside trap, and Fermín did the rest by firing past David Soria.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
25 Apr. 2026
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Methane traps around 80 times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year horizon, making the emissions from a buildout of this scale difficult to quantify but impossible to ignore.—
Tejasri Gururaj,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Karzoun was assaulted near a shopping area on North Eagleville Road in the early morning hours after the large party was broken up at Carriage House by Connecticut State Police and the UConn Police Department.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
26 Apr. 2026
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Allen is facing federal charges including assaulting a federal officer and using a firearm during a crime of violence, with additional charges possible.—
Ashley Hume,
FOXNews.com,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Magaletti ventures a tentative introduction of brushes on snares; following the muted peal of distant thunder, upsammy chimes in with a plangent synthesizer sequence reminiscent of Arovane and other IDM producers from around the turn of the millennium.—
Philip Sherburne,
Pitchfork,
13 Apr. 2026
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And their childhood friend Wesley Backer is on traps, banging on a 55-gallon rain barrel for a bass drum, buckets for the snare and toms, and sheet metal for cymbals.—
Jessica Meszaros,
Miami Herald,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Padres have gotten promising results from two reclamation projects in Walker Buehler and Germán Márquez, veterans who used to lead pitching staffs before Tommy John surgery waylaid them the past couple seasons.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Apr. 2026
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Now Picard is zipping around the cosmos again, The Lord of the Rings is waylaid with prequels and spin-offs, and somehow, Palpatine returned.—
Matthew Razak,
Space.com,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Back barring a surprise Marco Kasper Kasper’s second NHL season didn’t go according to plan, with his production dropping from 37 points as a rookie to 19 this season.—
Max Bultman,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
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The superstars’ set list didn’t deviate too far from their previous shows on the trek, but there were some surprises during the encore.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
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For example, infrastructure funds — whose returns from mature technology deployment are slow but steady, and whose appeal has only grown in response to rising power demand from the AI boom — captured 77% of new capital raised.—
Natasha Bracken,
semafor.com,
21 Apr. 2026
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Last June, Curiosity captured the first close-up images of a part of Mars scientists say provide evidence of how water once flowed on the red planet.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ambush.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ambush. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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