early-warning system
Americannoun
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Military. a network of radar installations designed to detect enemy aircraft or missiles in time for the effective deployment of defense systems.
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any series of steps established to spot potential problems.
noun
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a network of radar and communications units intended to detect at the earliest possible moment an attack by enemy aircraft or missiles
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anything that gives advance notice of something
Etymology
Origin of early-warning system
First recorded in 1945–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The researchers are now actively working on identifying compounds and microbes in the water column that serve as an early-warning system for coral reefs under stress.
From Science Daily • Feb. 13, 2024
What’s more, an over-the-horizon early-warning system the Soviet Union built in Ukraine in 1976 had been shuttered by the end of the Cold War.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 17, 2023
NHS England is rolling out a national early-warning system to help medics spot and treat a deteriorating child patient quickly - and act on parents' concerns.
From BBC • Nov. 2, 2023
It can act as an early-warning system to predict impending incidents of brutality.
From Scientific American • Nov. 1, 2023
Ghohg had installed his own magical early-warning system: long, monstrous nerves that snaked through the hills and would jolt when a distant guard stomped on the other end.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
