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

After an Amber Alert was issued, Manning returned his daughter to a relative around 5 a.m. Friday before allegedly continuing his crime spree in Kansas City, Kansas. —Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 7 Mar. 2025

Authorities did not issue an Amber Alert because there was nothing to indicate a crime, a Lincoln County spokesperson said during a press conference, according to KATU-TV. —Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 3 Mar. 2025

They were reported missing the following day to Hampton police, according to the Daily Press, and Hampton authorities issued an Amber Alert. —Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 18 Feb. 2025

The sheriff’s department in Lake County, Indiana, got a license plate alert around 9:30 a.m. Friday about the car described in the Amber Alert and started pursuing it about 10 minutes later in Merrillville. —Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 24 Feb. 2025

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