alarmism

American  

[uh-lahrm-iz-uhm] / əˈlɑrmˌɪz əm /

noun

1. the tendency to raise alarms without sufficient reason or cause, such as by exaggerating danger or the likelihood of disaster.

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Other Word Forms

• alarmist
  noun

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

alarmism

Asia military specialist Carl Thayer warned against alarmism, noting that the Ban Keun site could only support light aircraft and military trainers for now.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

I’m a natural skeptic of alarmism and suspicious whenever a company tells me the government must do something.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

In his majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch—himself a gun rights enthusiast—dispatched with Oldham’s logic in a single paragraph, explaining that the judge’s approach favored hyperbolic alarmism over a statute’s actual “text and context.”

From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2025

Despite its note of alarmism, the Economist article mentioned above asks that question in entirely reasonable terms.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2025

Let us beware, however, of exaggeration or alarmism.

From The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886 by Various

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