silent alarm
Americannoun
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an alarm that alerts security personnel or the police without the knowledge of the intruder or criminal whose presence triggers it.
The silent alarm set off a flashing light at the police station.
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any visual rather than audible alarm.
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.
Twice the operation was interrupted by police officers who came to Sinay’s office when she accidentally set off a silent alarm, but for the most part the copying proceeded without mishap.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2023
Police contacted Ms Leonard after a priority 999 call from a silent alarm system in her home had been logged.
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2023
China’s nosedive in childbearing is a silent alarm.
From Washington Post • Feb. 28, 2023
Again, not everyone will have this issue, but a silent alarm on a mattress isn’t as discreet as a silent alarm on your smartwatch.
From The Verge • Jul. 29, 2022
The guilt stayed with him, ineradicable, like the silent alarm in the fragile chest.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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.
