warn
verb
Simple meaning
To make aware of impending danger.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wawrnIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɔɹn
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.
verb
transitive
To make (someone) aware of impending danger, evil, etc.
transitive
To make (someone) aware of (something impending); especially
Notify of danger, potential harm, or risk
“The director warned him that he might be fired.”
transitive
To notify or inform (someone, about something).
Notify, usually in advance
“I warned you that I would ask some difficult questions.”
Ask to go away
“The old man warned the children off his property.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make (someone) aware of impending danger, evil, etc.
Used this way, warn is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- 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 warn
- “The director warned him that he might be fired.”verb
- “I warned you that I would ask some difficult questions.”verb
- “I warned him not to go too far.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A message informing of danger.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A device that signals the occurrence of some undesirable event.
A cautionary sign of danger.
A warning to national policy makers that an enemy intends to launch an attack in the near future.
A warning to national policy makers that an enemy intends war or is preparing for war and is on a course that increases the risk of war.
An automatic signal (usually a sound) warning of danger.
A bell used to sound an alarm.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.