panic button
noun
Simple meaning
An emergency button which, when pressed, alerts authorities of danger or triggers an alarm system.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
panihkbuhtuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpænɪkbətən
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
An emergency button which, when pressed, alerts authorities of danger or triggers an alarm system.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: An emergency button which, when pressed, alerts authorities of danger or triggers an alarm system.
Used this way, panic button is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.