William Shakespeare
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Today we usually think of an alarm as a loud noise that awakens us or warns us of danger. Its first use, however, was in Italy as a call to arms to soldiers. The Italian phrase all’arme! means literally “to arms” or “to your weapons.” The call was borrowed into other languages and came to be shortened to alarme in early French and Middle English. The word also came to be used as the name for the cry, then for any warning, and then to any device used to sound a warning, such as a bell or a gun. Since an alarm can cause fright or worry, such feelings also came to be known as alarm. By the 17th century, the word was used as a verb, meaning “to warn of danger” and then “to frighten.”
Synonyms
Examples of alarm in a Sentence
Iris Carreras, CBS News, 26 Apr. 2024
Unlike pepper spray and mace, which cannot fly, the Birdie alarm can travel with you.
—Becca Blond, Travel + Leisure, 26 Apr. 2024
The neighbor then called the police to report Stallworth's car alarm, the lawsuit says, and Grant Barton was the officer who responded to the neighbor's complaint.
—Jonathan Franklin, NPR, 26 Apr. 2024
Economists who spoke to ABC News downplayed any alarm raised by the fresh data, pointing to resilient economic activity driven by the steadiness of U.S. consumers.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 26 Apr. 2024
The test ended when the smell of burning hair set off the smoke alarm.
—Jesa Marie Calaor, Allure, 26 Apr. 2024
On a recent morning at a Rite Aid in East Hollywood, the lone cashier greeted customers who walked through a doorway lined with security alarm panels.
—Marisa Gerber, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2024
Hours after the alarm was triggered, a LAPD police car was dispatched to the property, a supervisor was notified and a report was written, the LA Times reported.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 23 Apr. 2024
In addition to taking advantage of public swimming programs, the San Diego County Fire Protection District recommends its pool alarm program, which began last year.
—Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2024
Jason Derose, NPR, 23 Apr. 2024
That prospect has alarmed homeless people and their advocates, who contend that a ruling against them would lead cities to fall back on jails, instead of solutions like affordable housing and social services.
—Abbie Vansickle, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2024
The purchases have alarmed local residents, who worry that water speculators scavenging agricultural land for valuable water rights will leave rural communities like Cibola in the dust.
—Maanvi Singh, WIRED, 20 Apr. 2024
These new measures have alarmed civil rights lawyers.
—Rick Hurd, The Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2024
The decision has alarmed users who post about social issues, including LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, racial inequality and disability.
—Taylor Lorenz, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
The rise of Portugal’s far right – which secured a fifth of votes in last month’s general election – does not alarm Abdul Karim, a Bangladesh native.
—Dominique Soguel, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Apr. 2024
Shah said people shouldn’t be alarmed by the official name for the virus: highly pathogenic avian influenza.
—Jen Christensen, CNN, 3 Apr. 2024
Indeed, violent crimes fell by more than 56% in the city—but that was after decades of alarming crime rates.
—Sunny Nagpaul, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'alarm.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near alarm
Cite this Entry
“Alarm.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alarm. Accessed 1 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
alarm
1 of 2 nounalarm
2 of 2 verbNoun
Middle English alarme "a call to arms," from early French alarme (same meaning), derived from early Italian all'arme, literally "to arms," from all' "to the" and arme "weapon," from Latin arma "weapon" — related to arm entry 3
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