alarm
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhlahrmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈlɑɹm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
Fear resulting from the awareness of danger
An instance of an alarm ringing, beeping or clanging, to give a noise signal at a certain time.
A mechanical device for awaking people, or rousing their attention.
A sudden attack; a disturbance.
A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.
verb
transitive
To give (someone) notice of approaching danger or necessary action; to rouse to vigilance; to put on the alert.
transitive
To surprise with apprehension of danger; to fill with anxiety in regard to threatening evil; to excite with sudden fear.
transitive
To call to arms for defense.
transitive
To keep in excitement; to disturb.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
Used this way, alarm is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use alarm
- “The fire alarm went off, so everyone quickly evacuated the building.”noun
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: any sound
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.