ambulate

EN
verb

🇺🇸

/ˈæmbjəleɪt/

🇺🇸

/ˈæmbjəleɪt/

🇬🇧

/ˈæmbjəleɪt/

🇬🇧

/ˈæmbjəleɪt/

Word Forms

Past Tense

ambulated

Past Participle

ambulated

Gerund

ambulating

3rd Person

ambulates

Description

Ambulate means to walk or move around on foot — it's a formal or clinical term often used in medical, rehabilitation, or academic contexts instead of everyday 'walk'. For example, a physical therapist might say, 'The patient began to ambulate with a walker two days after surgery.'

Examples

After hip replacement surgery, patients typically begin to ambulate with support the next day.

The elderly man struggled to ambulate without his cane due to arthritis pain.

In physical therapy, learning to ambulate steadily is a key milestone for stroke recovery.

Nurses monitor how far patients can ambulate during their daily assessments.

She was unable to ambulate unassisted and required a wheelchair for longer distances.

Root

ambul

Comes from the Latin verb 'ambulare', meaning 'to walk' or 'to move about'. It conveys the core concept of walking, moving on foot, or locomotion. Examples include ambulate, ambulation, ambulatory, perambulate, and somnambulate.