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 victims, who police identified as the man's 33-year-old girlfriend and four children, ages 3, 7, 11 and 14, were found safe in the vehicle, according the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office, the agency that reported the family missing, triggering a statewide Amber Alert. —Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 1 Nov. 2024

After the two bodies were discovered by APD, an Amber Alert was issued for Anseume-Corredor's three children. —Jasmine Baehr, Fox News, 17 Oct. 2024

Lee, of the Dock Ellis Foundation, said that the Ebony Alert has saved lives, but thus far it’s suffered from the same shortcomings of the Amber Alert. —Marquise Francis, NBC News, 10 Oct. 2024

Authorities are asking the public for help locating a 16-year-old at-risk youth at the center of an Amber Alert in North Texas. —Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 5 Oct. 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