Amber Alert

noun

variants or less commonly Amber alert or amber alert

plural Amber Alerts also Amber alerts or amber alerts

US

: a widely publicized bulletin that alerts the public to a recently abducted or missing child

… State Police activated the Amber Alert in search of a male infant who they believed was kidnapped …

—Fall River (Massachusetts) News

State Police put out an Amber alert …

—Travis Andersen

… sends a text message … for emergency alerts (like hurricanes and amber alerts) …

—Greg Ganske

Amber Alerts are issued when a child under 18 is abducted and believed to be in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

—Anthony Maenza

compare blue alert, silver alert

Examples of Amber Alert in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Amber Alert was in effect for Hamilton County and surrounding counties: Butler, Clermont, and Warren along with the Southwest Ohio region, which also covers Brown, Clinton and Highland counties. —Jennifer Edwards Baker and Tayler Davis, The Enquirer, 17 Dec. 2024

What's New An Amber Alert has been issued for a 5-year-old boy in Florida by the state's department of law enforcement. —Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024

The 11-month-old Little Rock girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert has been found and is safe, the Little Rock Police announced Friday afternoon. —Daniel McFadin, arkansasonline.com, 13 Dec. 2024

An Amber Alert involving three children ranging from ages 3 to 10 kidnapped from a Virginia apartment complex are believed to be in East Tennessee, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter. —Craig Shoup, The Tennessean, 5 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

from the U.S. Justice Department AMBER Alert Program that issues such bulletins, originally from Amber Hagerman †1996 U.S. victim of an abduction, later read as an acronym for America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response

First Known Use

1997, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

Amber alert

noun

: a widely publicized bulletin that alerts the public to a recently abducted or missing child

Legal Definition

Amber Alert

noun

: a widely publicized bulletin that alerts the public to a recently abducted or missing child

Etymology

from the U.S. Justice Dept. AMBER Alert Program that issues such bulletins, originally from Amber Hagerman †1996 victim of an abduction, later read as America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response