alarm
[uh-lahrm]
- a sudden fear or distressing suspense caused by an awareness of danger; apprehension; fright.
- any sound, outcry, or information intended to warn of approaching danger: Paul Revere raced through the countryside raising the alarm that the British were coming.
- an automatic device that serves to call attention, to rouse from sleep, or to warn of fire, smoke, an intruder, etc.
- a warning sound; signal for attention.
- Animal Behavior. any sound, outcry, chemical discharge, action, or other signal that functions to draw attention to a potential predator.
- Fencing. an appeal or a challenge made by a step or stamp on the ground with the advancing foot.
- Archaic. a call to arms.
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- to make fearful or apprehensive; distress.
- to warn of danger; rouse to vigilance and swift measures for safety.
- to fit or equip with an alarm or alarms, as for fire, smoke, or robbery: to alarm one's house and garage.
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Origin of alarm
1350–1400; Middle English alarme, alarom < Middle French < Old Italian allarme, noun from phrase all'arme to (the) arms. See arm2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for alarmed
Contemporary Examples
Chernon Bah, co-founder of A World at School, was alarmed by what she witnessed recently in Sierra Leone.
Biologist Mattson is alarmed by the abrupt 2008 rise in grizzly mortality from conflicts both with livestock and hunters.
A woman who had been walking in front of him began sprinting, too, in an alarmed manner.
So alarmed is she at the shortage of implants, that she said it would affect the overall culture of beauty in Venezuela.
The critters have the propensity to devour their babies if alarmed and so require a calm environment for breeding.
Historical Examples
"Don't be alarmed, my dear mother," said Robert, soothingly.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Then, indeed, she had burst upon him with an impetuous despair that had alarmed him.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
And into his thoughts now crept a doubt, one that alarmed his sense of justice.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
"But there wasn't any shot," the perplexed and alarmed detective expostulated.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
But about this time I was alarmed for myself by a slight twinge of jealousy.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
alarm
- to fill with apprehension, anxiety, or fear
- to warn about danger; alert
- to fit or activate a burglar alarm on a house, car, etc
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- fear or terror aroused by awareness of danger; fright
- apprehension or uneasinessthe idea of failing filled him with alarm
- a noise, signal, etc, warning of danger
- any device that transmits such a warninga burglar alarm
- the device in an alarm clock that triggers off the bell or buzzer
- short for alarm clock
- archaic a call to arms
- fencing a warning or challenge made by stamping the front foot
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French alarme, from Old Italian all'arme to arms; see arm ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for alarmed
adj.
"disturbed by prospects of peril," 1640s, past participle adjective from alarm (v.).
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alarm
alarm
n.
early 14c., from Old French alarme (14c.), from Italian all'arme "to arms!" (literally "to the arms"). An interjection that came to be used as the word for the call or warning (cf. alert). Extended 16c. to "any sound to warn of danger or to arouse." Weakened sense of "apprehension, unease" is from 1833. Variant alarum is due to the rolling -r- in the vocalized form. Sometimes in early years anglicized as all-arm. Alarm clock is attested from 1690s (as A Larum clock).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with alarmed
alarm
see false alarm.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.